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Political News and Headlines From ABC News Radioen-us(c) ABC News RadioFlynn drew judge&rsquo;s ire with 'guilty-but-not-really' filing: Expertshttp://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/8b5b80c40c678d668fe3b47f64c0dee9
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 20:57:00 -0600http://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/8b5b80c40c678d668fe3b47f64c0dee9Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- When a federal judge unleashed a tongue-lashing on former White House national security advisor Michael Flynn Tuesday, legal experts saw a dramatic push back to Flynn’s eleventh-hour attempt to seed doubts about the FBI’s conduct during his questioning and arrest.

“It’s very unusual for sentencing that was supposed to be uneventful, to go so far off the tracks,” former federal prosecutor Robert Mintz told ABC News. “Here, in the eyes of the court, the defendant really tried to minimize culpability. That obviously struck a bad chord with the judge.”

Mintz was referring to a court filing Flynn’s defense team made last week, after prosecutors had already recommended he be spared prison time, in which Flynn’s team strongly suggested that Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents had been duplicitous in their treatment of Flynn when they interviewed him at the White House about his contacts with the then-Russian ambassador. “The agents did not provide General Flynn with a warning of the penalties for making a false statement … before, during, or after the interview,” the filing said.

That insinuation -- that the FBI tricked Flynn into lying -– quickly became a narrative embraced and circulated by Flynn’s supporters -– including close allies of President Donald Trump. Two days after Flynn's filing, the president criticized in a tweet how Flynn had been "treated" by the FBI.

The filing prompted U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to request additional records, and today to ask Flynn flatly if he wished to ”challenge the circumstances in which you were interviewed by the FBI?"

The judge then asked Flynn’s lawyer if he believed Flynn was entrapped by the FBI.

Both replied with a definitive, "No, your honor." But, legal experts told ABC News, it appeared the damage had been done. The judge began a lengthy up-braiding of the former lieutenant general.

"You made those false statements while you were serving as the national security advisor, the President of the United States’ most senior security aid. You can't minimize that,” Sullivan said. "I want to be frank with you, this crime is very serious."

"As I stated it involves false statements to FBI agents in the White House, in the West Wing!" the judge continued. "By a high-ranking security officer who up to that point had an unblemished career of service to his country. It's a very serious offense."

“I'm not hiding my disgust my disdain for this criminal offense,” he said.

Kendall Coffey, another former federal prosecutor and current white collar defense attorney, said Flynn’s earlier filing likely played a part in Sullivan’s heated remarks.

“Most federal judges are not interested in a plea of ‘guilty-but-not-really,’” Coffey told ABC News. “Judges don’t want individuals coming in unless they are truly believing they are guilty and accepting responsibility. One concern would have been whether Flynn was trying to have it both ways.”

“The judge was basically saying you’re one or the other,” Mintz said. “Withdraw your guilty plea if you think you’re innocent. If you believe you haven’t committed a crime, I’m giving you an opportunity to withdraw your plea… The judge found off-putting the tightrope that Flynn was trying to walk here.”

White collar defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Shan Wu said he thought Flynn’s team “miscalculated the effect of their effort to portray Flynn in a sympathetic light” with regard to the FBI interview. “In my opinion, they should’ve stuck with the 50 letters of reference and the Bronze Star.”

Douglas Berman, a leading expert on federal sentencing and professor at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, said, however, he wouldn’t be “too judgmental” about how the defense “tried to navigate around some difficult terrain here.”

“It sounded like Judge Sullivan is mightily concerned about the seriousness of Flynn’s conduct,” Berman said.

Sullivan dialed back his remarks after a short break at mid-day, explaining to the court that he may have misspoken when he went as far as to ask prosecutors if they ever considered Flynn’s conduct to be “treasonous.” (Prosecutors said they hadn’t.)

Sullivan also appeared to have mistakenly believed that Flynn had worked as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government into his White House tenure. Flynn had ceased operating in that role in mid-November 2016, prior to entering the White House. The undeclared foreign work by Flynn while he was an advisor on the Trump campaign clearly bothered the judge, but he walked back his initial statements about that topic.

"There are a lot of conspiracy theorists out there," he said. "I am not taking the elements of any of the uncharged offenses under consideration at the time of sentencing."

Sullivan has served on the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. since he was appointed to the bench there by then-President Bill Clinton in 1994. Prior to that, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush appointed him to spots on D.C. court benches.

A past case suggests Sullivan is especially incensed by potential misconduct in his court. A decade ago he oversaw a public corruption case against former Senator Ted Stevens. In that case, Sullivan named a special prosecutor to investigate whether the Justice Department improperly withheld important evidence.

Then, too, he gave an impassioned speech to the court, saying he had “never seen mishandling and misconduct like what I’ve seen” by the Department of Justice in that case, according to a 2009 New York Times report.

In 2015 Sullivan made some headlines for his criticism of Hillary Clinton's use of private email during a hearing about one of numerous Freedom of Information Act lawsuits seeking court-ordered access to her records. The judge reportedly said that her private email use violated government policy.

Sullivan recently had an oblique foray into the Trump orbit when he ruled in September that congressional Democrats can sue Trump over claims he violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments.

After recognizing the judge’s pique with Flynn today, defense attorney Robert Kelner requested the sentencing hearing be postponed. The judge agreed, and set a status update for March.

Coffey said Kelner’s request for a delay made sense, even though they will eventually be back before him.

“Based on the judge’s comments, this was not a day to seek a sentence,” Coffey said.

“It’s very unusual for sentencing that was supposed to be uneventful, to go so far off the tracks,” former federal prosecutor Robert Mintz told ABC News. “Here, in the eyes of the court, the defendant really tried to minimize culpability. That obviously struck a bad chord with the judge.”

Mintz was referring to a court filing Flynn’s defense team made last week, after prosecutors had already recommended he be spared prison time, in which Flynn’s team strongly suggested that Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents had been duplicitous in their treatment of Flynn when they interviewed him at the White House about his contacts with the then-Russian ambassador. “The agents did not provide General Flynn with a warning of the penalties for making a false statement … before, during, or after the interview,” the filing said.

That insinuation -- that the FBI tricked Flynn into lying -– quickly became a narrative embraced and circulated by Flynn’s supporters -– including close allies of President Donald Trump. Two days after Flynn's filing, the president criticized in a tweet how Flynn had been "treated" by the FBI.

The filing prompted U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to request additional records, and today to ask Flynn flatly if he wished to ”challenge the circumstances in which you were interviewed by the FBI?"

The judge then asked Flynn’s lawyer if he believed Flynn was entrapped by the FBI.

Both replied with a definitive, "No, your honor." But, legal experts told ABC News, it appeared the damage had been done. The judge began a lengthy up-braiding of the former lieutenant general.

"You made those false statements while you were serving as the national security advisor, the President of the United States’ most senior security aid. You can't minimize that,” Sullivan said. "I want to be frank with you, this crime is very serious."

"As I stated it involves false statements to FBI agents in the White House, in the West Wing!" the judge continued. "By a high-ranking security officer who up to that point had an unblemished career of service to his country. It's a very serious offense."

“I'm not hiding my disgust my disdain for this criminal offense,” he said.

Kendall Coffey, another former federal prosecutor and current white collar defense attorney, said Flynn’s earlier filing likely played a part in Sullivan’s heated remarks.

“Most federal judges are not interested in a plea of ‘guilty-but-not-really,’” Coffey told ABC News. “Judges don’t want individuals coming in unless they are truly believing they are guilty and accepting responsibility. One concern would have been whether Flynn was trying to have it both ways.”

“The judge was basically saying you’re one or the other,” Mintz said. “Withdraw your guilty plea if you think you’re innocent. If you believe you haven’t committed a crime, I’m giving you an opportunity to withdraw your plea… The judge found off-putting the tightrope that Flynn was trying to walk here.”

White collar defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Shan Wu said he thought Flynn’s team “miscalculated the effect of their effort to portray Flynn in a sympathetic light” with regard to the FBI interview. “In my opinion, they should’ve stuck with the 50 letters of reference and the Bronze Star.”

Douglas Berman, a leading expert on federal sentencing and professor at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, said, however, he wouldn’t be “too judgmental” about how the defense “tried to navigate around some difficult terrain here.”

“It sounded like Judge Sullivan is mightily concerned about the seriousness of Flynn’s conduct,” Berman said.

Sullivan dialed back his remarks after a short break at mid-day, explaining to the court that he may have misspoken when he went as far as to ask prosecutors if they ever considered Flynn’s conduct to be “treasonous.” (Prosecutors said they hadn’t.)

Sullivan also appeared to have mistakenly believed that Flynn had worked as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government into his White House tenure. Flynn had ceased operating in that role in mid-November 2016, prior to entering the White House. The undeclared foreign work by Flynn while he was an advisor on the Trump campaign clearly bothered the judge, but he walked back his initial statements about that topic.

"There are a lot of conspiracy theorists out there," he said. "I am not taking the elements of any of the uncharged offenses under consideration at the time of sentencing."

Sullivan has served on the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. since he was appointed to the bench there by then-President Bill Clinton in 1994. Prior to that, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush appointed him to spots on D.C. court benches.

A past case suggests Sullivan is especially incensed by potential misconduct in his court. A decade ago he oversaw a public corruption case against former Senator Ted Stevens. In that case, Sullivan named a special prosecutor to investigate whether the Justice Department improperly withheld important evidence.

Then, too, he gave an impassioned speech to the court, saying he had “never seen mishandling and misconduct like what I’ve seen” by the Department of Justice in that case, according to a 2009 New York Times report.

In 2015 Sullivan made some headlines for his criticism of Hillary Clinton's use of private email during a hearing about one of numerous Freedom of Information Act lawsuits seeking court-ordered access to her records. The judge reportedly said that her private email use violated government policy.

Sullivan recently had an oblique foray into the Trump orbit when he ruled in September that congressional Democrats can sue Trump over claims he violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments.

After recognizing the judge’s pique with Flynn today, defense attorney Robert Kelner requested the sentencing hearing be postponed. The judge agreed, and set a status update for March.

Coffey said Kelner’s request for a delay made sense, even though they will eventually be back before him.

“Based on the judge’s comments, this was not a day to seek a sentence,” Coffey said.

“We don’t have any reason to want to walk that back,” Sanders said in Tuesday's White House press briefing.

Her comments came shortly after Flynn's appearance in a federal court where he was slated to be sentenced for lying to federal investigators about his contacts with Russian officials. During the hearing, Flynn took full responsibility for lying to the FBI and his admitted that he knew doing so was illegal.

When asked by Judge Emmet Sullivan if Flynn believed he had been entrapped by the FBI, his attorneys replied "no your honor."

Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI regarding his contacts with the ambassador of Russia and conversations related to sanctions on Russia.

His sentencing was delayed at the request of his defense attorney. The next status report is now set for March.

Sanders also defended President Donald Trump's tweeted well-wishes for Flynn earlier in the day and said the White House is not concerned with Flynn's legal proceedings as it relates to the president.

"Not when it comes to things having to do with the president, the activities he is said to – we'll let the court make that determination – that he's said to have engaged in don't have anything to do with the president," Sander said when asked if the White House had concerns that one of the president's top aides lied to the FBI and had done work for a foreign government.

"Good luck today in court to General Michael Flynn," Trump tweeted just hours before Flynn's scheduled court appearance. "Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign."

In an appearance on FOX News later in the morning, Sanders accused the FBI of "ambushing" Flynn with how he was approached for an interview.

"They threw FBI protocol out the window for one reason and one reason only: because it was the Trump administration and they thought they could get away with it," Sanders said.

Flynn could ultimately face up to six months in prison, though Mueller's team has recommended no jail time, citing Flynn's "substantial assistance" in his interviews with the special counsel since his guilty plea.

"Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range—including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration—is appropriate and warranted,” Mueller wrote.

Flynn served a total of 23 days as Trump's national security adviser before his sudden firing in February 2017 after he was found to have lied to Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about whether he had discussed lifting sanctions against Russia with its ambassador during the transition.

Trump has since repeatedly stated that he believes Flynn was unfairly targeted by Mueller's investigation and has even suggested he no longer believes Flynn actually lied to FBI agents despite his guilty plea, as he did in this tweet from Dec. 13.

In a sentencing memo last week, Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner accused the FBI of being manipulative and potentially deceitful in how its agents approached Flynn initially.

The special counsel's office responded to the allegations in court documents Friday, where it argued that Flynn's years of military service should essentially have taught him not to lie to federal investigators.

“Nothing about the way the interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI,” the special counsel's office said. “The defendant chose to make false statements about his communications with the Russian ambassador weeks before the FBI interview when he lied about that topic to the media, the incoming Vice President, and other members of the Presidential Transition Team.”

On Monday evening the government filed the FBI's formerly secret internal report based on two investigators' interview with Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017.

The February 2017 document, called a "302" in FBI parlance, shows how the agents went into the meeting armed with knowledge of conversations Flynn had during the transition period after the election with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including calls and text messages they exchanged in the U.S. and while Flynn and his wife were on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

The report shows Flynn repeatedly said "no" or didn't remember when they asked him specific questions about his contacts with Kislyak on the subject of a UN vote on Israeli settlements the Obama administration abstained from and sanctions the Obama White House imposed on Russia for interfering with the 2016 presidential election.

The reason the judge ordered the 302 placed on the public docket was that Flynn's legal team raised the question in their sentencing memo to the judge of whether FBI agents tried to lay a perjury trap on Flynn. The government, in response, said, "When the defendant said he did not remember something they knew he said, they used the exact words the defendant had used in order to prompt a truthful response."

Judge Sullivan said the report is "relevant to Mr. Flynn's sentencing," though he did not indicate how it will factor into his ruling on Flynn's sentence.

]]>Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is standing by a claim that FBI investigators "ambushed" the then-national security adviser Michael Flynn during an interview in January of last year.

“We don’t have any reason to want to walk that back,” Sanders said in Tuesday's White House press briefing.

Her comments came shortly after Flynn's appearance in a federal court where he was slated to be sentenced for lying to federal investigators about his contacts with Russian officials. During the hearing, Flynn took full responsibility for lying to the FBI and his admitted that he knew doing so was illegal.

When asked by Judge Emmet Sullivan if Flynn believed he had been entrapped by the FBI, his attorneys replied "no your honor."

Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI regarding his contacts with the ambassador of Russia and conversations related to sanctions on Russia.

His sentencing was delayed at the request of his defense attorney. The next status report is now set for March.

Sanders also defended President Donald Trump's tweeted well-wishes for Flynn earlier in the day and said the White House is not concerned with Flynn's legal proceedings as it relates to the president.

"Not when it comes to things having to do with the president, the activities he is said to – we'll let the court make that determination – that he's said to have engaged in don't have anything to do with the president," Sander said when asked if the White House had concerns that one of the president's top aides lied to the FBI and had done work for a foreign government.

"Good luck today in court to General Michael Flynn," Trump tweeted just hours before Flynn's scheduled court appearance. "Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign."

In an appearance on FOX News later in the morning, Sanders accused the FBI of "ambushing" Flynn with how he was approached for an interview.

"They threw FBI protocol out the window for one reason and one reason only: because it was the Trump administration and they thought they could get away with it," Sanders said.

Flynn could ultimately face up to six months in prison, though Mueller's team has recommended no jail time, citing Flynn's "substantial assistance" in his interviews with the special counsel since his guilty plea.

"Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range—including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration—is appropriate and warranted,” Mueller wrote.

Flynn served a total of 23 days as Trump's national security adviser before his sudden firing in February 2017 after he was found to have lied to Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about whether he had discussed lifting sanctions against Russia with its ambassador during the transition.

Trump has since repeatedly stated that he believes Flynn was unfairly targeted by Mueller's investigation and has even suggested he no longer believes Flynn actually lied to FBI agents despite his guilty plea, as he did in this tweet from Dec. 13.

In a sentencing memo last week, Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner accused the FBI of being manipulative and potentially deceitful in how its agents approached Flynn initially.

The special counsel's office responded to the allegations in court documents Friday, where it argued that Flynn's years of military service should essentially have taught him not to lie to federal investigators.

“Nothing about the way the interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI,” the special counsel's office said. “The defendant chose to make false statements about his communications with the Russian ambassador weeks before the FBI interview when he lied about that topic to the media, the incoming Vice President, and other members of the Presidential Transition Team.”

On Monday evening the government filed the FBI's formerly secret internal report based on two investigators' interview with Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017.

The February 2017 document, called a "302" in FBI parlance, shows how the agents went into the meeting armed with knowledge of conversations Flynn had during the transition period after the election with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including calls and text messages they exchanged in the U.S. and while Flynn and his wife were on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

The report shows Flynn repeatedly said "no" or didn't remember when they asked him specific questions about his contacts with Kislyak on the subject of a UN vote on Israeli settlements the Obama administration abstained from and sanctions the Obama White House imposed on Russia for interfering with the 2016 presidential election.

The reason the judge ordered the 302 placed on the public docket was that Flynn's legal team raised the question in their sentencing memo to the judge of whether FBI agents tried to lay a perjury trap on Flynn. The government, in response, said, "When the defendant said he did not remember something they knew he said, they used the exact words the defendant had used in order to prompt a truthful response."

Judge Sullivan said the report is "relevant to Mr. Flynn's sentencing," though he did not indicate how it will factor into his ruling on Flynn's sentence.

]]>White House backs off Trump's $5 billion border wall demand as shutdown loomshttp://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/52eb46cdb4abd615492cffa5a23b8917
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 16:19:00 -0600http://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/52eb46cdb4abd615492cffa5a23b8917Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- As Friday’s deadline to fund the government looms, the White House appeared to back off President Donald Trump's $5 billion demand for border wall funding Tuesday, spinning up questionable options that aides hope would allow the president to save face without shutting down the government.

At the White House Tuesday afternoon, responding to a reporter who asked whether a shutdown could be avoided, Trump had a low-key answer compared to his previous boasting about the prospect.

Without a bipartisan compromise on a long-term deal, Congress appears likely to kick the can down the road – with momentum building around a short-term spending bill that maintains the status quo - punting the debate to early next year.Evolution of spending negotiations

Trump has said he’d be "proud" to take ownership of a shutdown in order to get funding for a border wall.

"I am proud to shut down the government for border security," he told Democratic leaders last week during a meeting in the Oval Office. "I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I won't blame you for it."

But on Capitol Hill, where Republicans still have majorities and the power of the purse, there is little appetite for a partial government shutdown at the end of the week – with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even calling for a “smooth landing” – not a shutdown.

The president's so-called 'Slush Fund'

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Fox News that the White House has identified “a number of different funding sources” that it can “couple” with any funding that Congress appropriates – putting $5 billion the president has demanded for the border wall within reach.

Despite the president saying last Tuesday that he would be “proud” to shut down the government over border security, a week later, Sanders insisted the White House does not want to do that.

“At the end of the day we don't want to shut down the government,” Sanders said. “We want to shut down the border from illegal immigration, from drugs coming into this country and make sure we know who is coming and why they're coming.”

That apparent policy shift suggests the president could drop his demand for $5 billion in a Homeland Security funding bill and sign an agreement that provides less money, averting a partial shutdown at the end of the week. Democrats have signaled a willingness to approve $1.6 billion for border security, including fencing and technology, but would prohibit that money from building Trump’s wall.

At her first press briefing this month, Sanders told reporters that the White House is currently deferring to lawmakers to determine what they’re able to pass.

“At this point we're disappointed in the fact they've yet to vote and pass something,” Sanders said. “When they do that, we'll make a determination whether we're going to sign that.”

GOP makes its first offer, which Democrats promptly reject

Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a deal to Democrats to pass a bipartisan Homeland Security bill, funding border security but not a concrete wall, but also adding $1 billion that Democrats are deriding as a "slush fund" for the president's "radical immigration agenda."

House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi quickly announced that Democrats have flatly rejected the GOP’s new proposal.

“We cannot accept the offer they made of a $1 billion slush fund to implement his very wrong immigration policies. So that won’t happen,” Pelosi said.

A short-term continuing resolution?

Pelosi said that a short-term continuing resolution – funding the remaining areas of appropriations at current levels – could be in the cards.

“We’ll see what they come back with,” Pelosi said. “The White House has backed off the wall and that terminology, but what they might want to do with that $1 billion is problematic.”

While the White House says it is looking to see what Congress can pass before the president makes any decisions, Republicans are looking to the White House to see what the president would be willing to accept.

“I’m discussing with the White House where we go next and once I get an answer to that, I’ll talk with Senator Schumer again and see what we can do,” McConnell reported.

So, where do those “different funding sources” come from that the White House envisions? Sanders did not specify, although the incoming chair of the House Appropriations Committee said last week that it would probably be illegal for Trump to redirect billions in military funds to border wall construction, because Congress has not authorized money to be spent that way.

“President Trump likely lacks the legal authority to redirect significant military resources to border wall construction,” Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said. “To the extent that he could do so at all, it would be reckless and irresponsible to waste national security resources on a border wall that is nothing more than in-kind contribution to his re-election campaign.”

Cornyn, R-Texas, did not seem quite sure where that money would be coming from either and was uncertain whether Trump could redirect funds without congressional approval.

“I’m just interpreting the same words you’re trying to interpret,” Cornyn said. “I think we’d all have to talk to lawyers to figure out what his authority is and whether it requires Congress to approve it."

The president has made all sorts of unsubstantiated claims for how he could pay for the wall – from Mexico, to solar power -- even that the $5 billion could be procured from the economic gains achieved through the rewrite of NAFTA.

Pelosi scoffed at that idea, wondering whether a small business that realizes a tax benefit from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would be asked to fork it over to fund the wall.

“It doesn't make any sense. That is basically what he's saying, any benefit our economy might have from….a revised trade agreement with Mexico and Canada would be spent on the wall instead of growing our economy, increasing paychecks for our workers,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said last Thursday. “The American people are still paying the price. Mexico is not paying for this wall. But maybe [President Trump] doesn't understand how a trade agreement works, for him to say such a thing.”

Retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan also does not seem too keen on forfeiting the lower chamber’s constitutional power of the purse, though last week when he was asked about the president potentially reprogramming money towards the wall, Ryan basically ducked the question and insisted he and Trump were on the same page.

“We can get into the conversations about reprogramming and all of those things. Only the point is we share the president’s goals, which is we need to secure our border,” Ryan said Dec. 11. “So, the president is right to be concerned about border security. We wanna do what it takes to secure the border. We’re here. We support his position and we hope that the Senate Democrats and Leader Pelosi can come around to that as well.”

All eyes remain on the president, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – many working from lame duck cubicles as their tenures in office wind down -- looking to the White House for some answers.

“If the White House has a plan, they’re keeping it to themselves,” GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told ABC News Monday night. “I don't want to have this fight and shut government down unless we've got a chance of winning.”

Acknowledging that it’s highly unlikely that Democrats will come around to the president’s $5 billion request for his border wall, Kennedy reiterated, “We're waiting on instructions from the White House.”

Sanders, however, said administration officials have been in “constant contact” with lawmakers.

“Our team was on the phone with Senate teams this morning,” she said. “I think they know clearly what we want to see.”

What offers are on the table?

Meanwhile, Democrats await word from the White House on two offers they extended last week when Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer clashed with Trump in a televised showdown in the Oval Office.

Congress must pass seven appropriations bills before the end of the day on Dec. 21. Any sectors left unfunded will shut down, forcing 380,000 federal workers on unpaid furlough. Up to 420,000 additional government employees who are deemed “essential” to government operations would be required to work without pay.

Democrats have shown no signs of buckling to Trump's demands, and point to two offers they've extended to the president but the White House has not accepted or rejected.Democrat offers:

1) Pass the six appropriations bills where appropriators have reached agreement on new spending levels, as well as a continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security at the current level through Sept. 30, 2019.

2) Pass a continuing resolution to fund all seven remaining appropriations bills at current levels through Sept. 30, 2019.

Republican offers:

1) Pass the six appropriations bills where appropriators have reached agreement on new spending levels, as well as the Senate's $1.6 bipartisan Homeland Security bill, plus $1 billion reprogramming of unspent appropriations from FY2018.

If lawmakers fail to keep the government open, a shutdown would likely last into the New Year, after House Democrats take hold of their new majority.

In the event of a shutdown, Pelosi has pledged to pass the second Democratic option as soon as she seizes the gavel on Jan. 3.

Without a bipartisan compromise on a long-term deal, Congress appears likely to kick the can down the road – with momentum building around a short-term spending bill that maintains the status quo - punting the debate to early next year.Evolution of spending negotiations

Trump has said he’d be "proud" to take ownership of a shutdown in order to get funding for a border wall.

"I am proud to shut down the government for border security," he told Democratic leaders last week during a meeting in the Oval Office. "I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I won't blame you for it."

But on Capitol Hill, where Republicans still have majorities and the power of the purse, there is little appetite for a partial government shutdown at the end of the week – with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even calling for a “smooth landing” – not a shutdown.

The president's so-called 'Slush Fund'

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Fox News that the White House has identified “a number of different funding sources” that it can “couple” with any funding that Congress appropriates – putting $5 billion the president has demanded for the border wall within reach.

Despite the president saying last Tuesday that he would be “proud” to shut down the government over border security, a week later, Sanders insisted the White House does not want to do that.

“At the end of the day we don't want to shut down the government,” Sanders said. “We want to shut down the border from illegal immigration, from drugs coming into this country and make sure we know who is coming and why they're coming.”

That apparent policy shift suggests the president could drop his demand for $5 billion in a Homeland Security funding bill and sign an agreement that provides less money, averting a partial shutdown at the end of the week. Democrats have signaled a willingness to approve $1.6 billion for border security, including fencing and technology, but would prohibit that money from building Trump’s wall.

At her first press briefing this month, Sanders told reporters that the White House is currently deferring to lawmakers to determine what they’re able to pass.

“At this point we're disappointed in the fact they've yet to vote and pass something,” Sanders said. “When they do that, we'll make a determination whether we're going to sign that.”

GOP makes its first offer, which Democrats promptly reject

Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a deal to Democrats to pass a bipartisan Homeland Security bill, funding border security but not a concrete wall, but also adding $1 billion that Democrats are deriding as a "slush fund" for the president's "radical immigration agenda."

House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi quickly announced that Democrats have flatly rejected the GOP’s new proposal.

“We cannot accept the offer they made of a $1 billion slush fund to implement his very wrong immigration policies. So that won’t happen,” Pelosi said.

A short-term continuing resolution?

Pelosi said that a short-term continuing resolution – funding the remaining areas of appropriations at current levels – could be in the cards.

“We’ll see what they come back with,” Pelosi said. “The White House has backed off the wall and that terminology, but what they might want to do with that $1 billion is problematic.”

While the White House says it is looking to see what Congress can pass before the president makes any decisions, Republicans are looking to the White House to see what the president would be willing to accept.

“I’m discussing with the White House where we go next and once I get an answer to that, I’ll talk with Senator Schumer again and see what we can do,” McConnell reported.

So, where do those “different funding sources” come from that the White House envisions? Sanders did not specify, although the incoming chair of the House Appropriations Committee said last week that it would probably be illegal for Trump to redirect billions in military funds to border wall construction, because Congress has not authorized money to be spent that way.

“President Trump likely lacks the legal authority to redirect significant military resources to border wall construction,” Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said. “To the extent that he could do so at all, it would be reckless and irresponsible to waste national security resources on a border wall that is nothing more than in-kind contribution to his re-election campaign.”

Cornyn, R-Texas, did not seem quite sure where that money would be coming from either and was uncertain whether Trump could redirect funds without congressional approval.

“I’m just interpreting the same words you’re trying to interpret,” Cornyn said. “I think we’d all have to talk to lawyers to figure out what his authority is and whether it requires Congress to approve it."

The president has made all sorts of unsubstantiated claims for how he could pay for the wall – from Mexico, to solar power -- even that the $5 billion could be procured from the economic gains achieved through the rewrite of NAFTA.

Pelosi scoffed at that idea, wondering whether a small business that realizes a tax benefit from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would be asked to fork it over to fund the wall.

“It doesn't make any sense. That is basically what he's saying, any benefit our economy might have from….a revised trade agreement with Mexico and Canada would be spent on the wall instead of growing our economy, increasing paychecks for our workers,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said last Thursday. “The American people are still paying the price. Mexico is not paying for this wall. But maybe [President Trump] doesn't understand how a trade agreement works, for him to say such a thing.”

Retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan also does not seem too keen on forfeiting the lower chamber’s constitutional power of the purse, though last week when he was asked about the president potentially reprogramming money towards the wall, Ryan basically ducked the question and insisted he and Trump were on the same page.

“We can get into the conversations about reprogramming and all of those things. Only the point is we share the president’s goals, which is we need to secure our border,” Ryan said Dec. 11. “So, the president is right to be concerned about border security. We wanna do what it takes to secure the border. We’re here. We support his position and we hope that the Senate Democrats and Leader Pelosi can come around to that as well.”

All eyes remain on the president, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle – many working from lame duck cubicles as their tenures in office wind down -- looking to the White House for some answers.

“If the White House has a plan, they’re keeping it to themselves,” GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told ABC News Monday night. “I don't want to have this fight and shut government down unless we've got a chance of winning.”

Acknowledging that it’s highly unlikely that Democrats will come around to the president’s $5 billion request for his border wall, Kennedy reiterated, “We're waiting on instructions from the White House.”

Sanders, however, said administration officials have been in “constant contact” with lawmakers.

“Our team was on the phone with Senate teams this morning,” she said. “I think they know clearly what we want to see.”

What offers are on the table?

Meanwhile, Democrats await word from the White House on two offers they extended last week when Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer clashed with Trump in a televised showdown in the Oval Office.

Congress must pass seven appropriations bills before the end of the day on Dec. 21. Any sectors left unfunded will shut down, forcing 380,000 federal workers on unpaid furlough. Up to 420,000 additional government employees who are deemed “essential” to government operations would be required to work without pay.

Democrats have shown no signs of buckling to Trump's demands, and point to two offers they've extended to the president but the White House has not accepted or rejected.Democrat offers:

1) Pass the six appropriations bills where appropriators have reached agreement on new spending levels, as well as a continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security at the current level through Sept. 30, 2019.

2) Pass a continuing resolution to fund all seven remaining appropriations bills at current levels through Sept. 30, 2019.

Republican offers:

1) Pass the six appropriations bills where appropriators have reached agreement on new spending levels, as well as the Senate's $1.6 bipartisan Homeland Security bill, plus $1 billion reprogramming of unspent appropriations from FY2018.

If lawmakers fail to keep the government open, a shutdown would likely last into the New Year, after House Democrats take hold of their new majority.

In the event of a shutdown, Pelosi has pledged to pass the second Democratic option as soon as she seizes the gavel on Jan. 3.

Kian, whose full name is Bijan Rafiekian, is charged with illegally lobbying in support of persistent efforts by Turkey’s president to regain custody of a cleric he blames for fomenting an unsuccessful coup attempt. Federal prosecutors accused Kian of seeking to "discredit and delegitimize” the cleric – who has taken refuge on a rural Pennsylvania compound – and ultimately to secure his expulsion from the U.S.

Another businessman with roots in Turkey, Kamil Ekim Alptekin, was indicted in the same case for lying to federal investigators as well as two counts of illegal foreign lobbying. He did not appear in court Tuesday morning.

Asked by the judge if he expects Alptekin to appear in court, assistant U.S. attorney James Gillis said he does not. He added that Alptekin is in Turkey and there is an arrest warrant for him.

Kian's attorney Robert Trout declined to comment.

The trial has been scheduled for Feb. 11, 2019.

The indictment against the two former Flynn associates was unsealed Monday in the Eastern District of Virginia court. The move came on the eve of a sentencing hearing for Flynn, who last December pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, including about his involvement in the Turkey lobbying.

Flynn, a former national security adviser for President Donald Trump, is not a defendant in the case against Kian but is a central figure in the alleged illegal lobbying operation for the Turkish government.

According to the indictment, Kian, Alptekin and Flynn, identified as "Person A" in the court filing, devised an extensive campaign against the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, which they called operation "Project Confidence." The effort was directed and sponsored by the Turkish government, prosecutors allege. Flynn's Alexandria-based consulting firm Flynn Intel Group, identified as "Company A," was used as a conduit for the lobbying operation and was paid $500,000.

Since Flynn’s guilty plea, the retired three-star general has been cooperating in this case, as well as with special counsel Robert Mueller in his ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Earlier this month, prosecutors asked for no jail time in sentencing Flynn because he had cooperated extensively with the special counsel's investigation.

The judge in Flynn's case in Washington, D.C., decided to delay sentencing Tuesday afternoon until March at the request of his attorney.

]]>DNY59/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- Michael Flynn's former business associate Bijan Kian pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges he conspired to influence U.S. politicians and public opinion on behalf of the Turkish government.

Kian, whose full name is Bijan Rafiekian, is charged with illegally lobbying in support of persistent efforts by Turkey’s president to regain custody of a cleric he blames for fomenting an unsuccessful coup attempt. Federal prosecutors accused Kian of seeking to "discredit and delegitimize” the cleric – who has taken refuge on a rural Pennsylvania compound – and ultimately to secure his expulsion from the U.S.

Another businessman with roots in Turkey, Kamil Ekim Alptekin, was indicted in the same case for lying to federal investigators as well as two counts of illegal foreign lobbying. He did not appear in court Tuesday morning.

Asked by the judge if he expects Alptekin to appear in court, assistant U.S. attorney James Gillis said he does not. He added that Alptekin is in Turkey and there is an arrest warrant for him.

Kian's attorney Robert Trout declined to comment.

The trial has been scheduled for Feb. 11, 2019.

The indictment against the two former Flynn associates was unsealed Monday in the Eastern District of Virginia court. The move came on the eve of a sentencing hearing for Flynn, who last December pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, including about his involvement in the Turkey lobbying.

Flynn, a former national security adviser for President Donald Trump, is not a defendant in the case against Kian but is a central figure in the alleged illegal lobbying operation for the Turkish government.

According to the indictment, Kian, Alptekin and Flynn, identified as "Person A" in the court filing, devised an extensive campaign against the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, which they called operation "Project Confidence." The effort was directed and sponsored by the Turkish government, prosecutors allege. Flynn's Alexandria-based consulting firm Flynn Intel Group, identified as "Company A," was used as a conduit for the lobbying operation and was paid $500,000.

Since Flynn’s guilty plea, the retired three-star general has been cooperating in this case, as well as with special counsel Robert Mueller in his ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Earlier this month, prosecutors asked for no jail time in sentencing Flynn because he had cooperated extensively with the special counsel's investigation.

The judge in Flynn's case in Washington, D.C., decided to delay sentencing Tuesday afternoon until March at the request of his attorney.

Judge Emmet Sullivan, a veteran of the bench who received his judicial appointments from Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, admonished Flynn at a hearing on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., for lying to the FBI, which he said was made worse because of where it occurred.

"In the White House! In the West Wing. By a high ranking security officer who up to that point had an unblemished career of service to his country,” the judge said. “It's a very serious offense. ... Arguably, this undermines everything this flag over here stands for! Arguably, you sold your country out!"

The judge agreed to the postponement and set the next status report for March.

The judge’s comments appeared to be a reversal of fortune for the man who spent months campaigning for Trump and served briefly as Trump’s national security adviser.

Flanked by his wife, and supported by his son and several of his eight siblings, Flynn responded methodically to the judge’s questions, declining to reverse his guilty plea or argue that he lied as a result of coercion by the FBI.

Prosecutors had asked for leniency – no jail time – in sentencing Flynn because he had cooperated extensively with the Special Counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"We believe that he has accepted responsibility -- not just his statements to the court today but throughout the proceedings," said Brandon L. Van Grack, a prosecutor from Mueller's office.

The judge’s comments substantially changed the mood in the courtroom -- especially when he began to question prosecutors about whether they ever considered a charge of treason -- which appeared to stem from his concern about Flynn's work on behalf of the Turkish government until just days before Trump identified him as the man who would serve as his first national security adviser.

“Is there an opinion about the conduct of the defendant that rises to treasonous on the defendants part?” the judge asked Van Grack, who said the special counsel had not considered leveling that charge. “Hypothetically could he have been charged with treason?” the judge asked again.

Van Grack replied that it was “such a serious question I'm hesitant to answer it.”

"There are a lot of conspiracy theorists out there I am not taking the elements of any of the uncharged offenses under consideration at the time of sentencing,” he said.

Flynn had done lobbying work between August and November 2016 for Turkey that, according to Justice Department filings, “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey.” Flynn’s company, the Flynn Intel Group, was paid at least $530,000 for the work. Flynn’s contract ended on Nov. 15, just three days before Trump named Flynn as the man he wanted to take on the top White House post.

On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump wished his former national security adviser "good luck" in a tweet.

It has been more than a year after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States and agreed to cooperate with Mueller's probe.

He faces up to six months in prison, but in a sentencing memo filed last week, Mueller told the judge that Flynn had provided investigators with "substantial assistance" in more than a dozen interviews, and that because he flipped early, "a sentence at the low end of the guideline range -- including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration -- is appropriate and warranted."

But last-minute intrigue was thrown into what was anticipated to be a cut-and-dry sentencing process Monday evening when the government filed the FBI's formerly secret internal report based on two investigators' interview with Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017.

The February 2017 document, called a "302" in FBI parlance, shows how the agents went into the meeting armed with knowledge of conversations Flynn had during the transition period after the election with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including calls and text messages they exchanged in the U.S. and while Flynn and his wife were on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

The report shows Flynn repeatedly said "no" or didn't remember when they asked him specific questions about his contacts with Kislyak on the subject of a UN vote on Israeli settlements the Obama administration abstained from and sanctions the Obama White House imposed on Russia for interfering with the 2016 presidential election.

The reason the judge ordered the 302 placed on the public docket was that Flynn's legal team raised the question in their sentencing memo to the judge of whether FBI agents tried to lay a perjury trap on Flynn. The government, in response, said, "When the defendant said he did not remember something they knew he said, they used the exact words the defendant had used in order to prompt a truthful response."

Judge Emmet Sullivan said the report is "relevant to Mr. Flynn's sentencing," though he did not indicate how it will factor into his ruling on Flynn's sentence.

The sentencing hearing was expected to complete a remarkable fall for the decorated military veteran. A career military intelligence officer who served in the 82nd Airborne Division, he became an intelligence innovator after 9/11 by attacking complex terrorist networks in war zones. He was tapped to lead the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 but was pushed out by the Obama White House in 2014. In retirement, he set up a consulting firm called the Flynn Intel Group outside Washington.

Flynn was an early Trump supporter and became outspoken on the campaign trail. He led national security during the transition -- a period during which he spoke to Russia's ambassador before President Trump was sworn in -- and he briefly served as his national security adviser. He was fired by Trump after just 21 days in the position for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about whether he had discussed lifting sanctions against Russia with its ambassador during the transition.

When Flynn pleaded guilty a year ago, the President tweeted that Flynn had "lied to the Vice President and the FBI" but last week claimed in another tweet that Flynn got "a great deal" from Mueller.

Last week, Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner filed a lengthy sentencing memo which laid out his military accomplishments and awards, and also strongly suggested the FBI had been disingenuous in its treatment of Flynn, perhaps an attempt to restore some luster to the reputation of a man who had earned three sparkling stars on his uniform.

In the defense sentencing memo, Flynn's family, friends and former colleagues cast him as selfless in serving his country and saving lives, from his boyhood rescue of two toddlers in the path of a runaway car in Rhode Island to handing his own armored vest to another officer during a suicide vehicle bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Letters described how his efforts to help destroy al-Qaeda in Iraq -- which eventually became ISIS -- saved thousands of lives and revealed how Flynn personally directed the entire NATO-led force in a failed effort to prevent Army Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl's captors "from trafficking him across the Pakistan border."

"For those who bore witness to these actions, Flynn was the embodiment of selfless service and military values," wrote retired Army Col. Yvette Hopkins in the letter included in Flynn's sentencing memo.

Flynn later told British documentary filmmaker Sean Langan that Bergdahl, who was court-martialed and pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy last year, was worthy of mercy.

"So the guy deserted his men, his soldiers, his squad -- no doubt," Flynn said in 2016. "[But] I don't think he should serve another day in any sort of confinement or jail or anything like that, because frankly, even though he put himself into this situation to a degree, we -- the United States government and the United States military — put him in Afghanistan."

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who commanded special operations in Afghanistan and Africa, told ABC News that Flynn is also worthy of such mercy, having endured the crucible of a long investigation that "has had negative consequences on an inherently good man and family."

"Despite the political issues and the legal issues he is experiencing, Lt. Gen. Flynn in my assessment is a good man," Bolduc said. "He knows more than anyone about personal accountability. I am sure no one understands more the consequences of being untruthful during an investigation than Lt. Gen. Flynn. As we all do, I am sure he has reflected on any mistakes he made and is moving forward to make amends and learn."

Those closest to Flynn told ABC News that he is eager to be rid of that spotlight from political critics, news media and criminal investigators. In the last year, he has not granted any interviews, instead seeking the privacy of the the Rhode Island community he grew up in, passing his days surfing and spending time with his large family.

He has not been entirely absent from the political scene, however. He spoke at one fringe Republican's early campaign event earlier this year and made a rare speech to accept an award at a conservative political conference in September.

Judge Emmet Sullivan, a veteran of the bench who received his judicial appointments from Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, admonished Flynn at a hearing on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., for lying to the FBI, which he said was made worse because of where it occurred.

"In the White House! In the West Wing. By a high ranking security officer who up to that point had an unblemished career of service to his country,” the judge said. “It's a very serious offense. ... Arguably, this undermines everything this flag over here stands for! Arguably, you sold your country out!"

The judge agreed to the postponement and set the next status report for March.

The judge’s comments appeared to be a reversal of fortune for the man who spent months campaigning for Trump and served briefly as Trump’s national security adviser.

Flanked by his wife, and supported by his son and several of his eight siblings, Flynn responded methodically to the judge’s questions, declining to reverse his guilty plea or argue that he lied as a result of coercion by the FBI.

Prosecutors had asked for leniency – no jail time – in sentencing Flynn because he had cooperated extensively with the Special Counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"We believe that he has accepted responsibility -- not just his statements to the court today but throughout the proceedings," said Brandon L. Van Grack, a prosecutor from Mueller's office.

The judge’s comments substantially changed the mood in the courtroom -- especially when he began to question prosecutors about whether they ever considered a charge of treason -- which appeared to stem from his concern about Flynn's work on behalf of the Turkish government until just days before Trump identified him as the man who would serve as his first national security adviser.

“Is there an opinion about the conduct of the defendant that rises to treasonous on the defendants part?” the judge asked Van Grack, who said the special counsel had not considered leveling that charge. “Hypothetically could he have been charged with treason?” the judge asked again.

Van Grack replied that it was “such a serious question I'm hesitant to answer it.”

"There are a lot of conspiracy theorists out there I am not taking the elements of any of the uncharged offenses under consideration at the time of sentencing,” he said.

Flynn had done lobbying work between August and November 2016 for Turkey that, according to Justice Department filings, “could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey.” Flynn’s company, the Flynn Intel Group, was paid at least $530,000 for the work. Flynn’s contract ended on Nov. 15, just three days before Trump named Flynn as the man he wanted to take on the top White House post.

On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump wished his former national security adviser "good luck" in a tweet.

It has been more than a year after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States and agreed to cooperate with Mueller's probe.

He faces up to six months in prison, but in a sentencing memo filed last week, Mueller told the judge that Flynn had provided investigators with "substantial assistance" in more than a dozen interviews, and that because he flipped early, "a sentence at the low end of the guideline range -- including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration -- is appropriate and warranted."

But last-minute intrigue was thrown into what was anticipated to be a cut-and-dry sentencing process Monday evening when the government filed the FBI's formerly secret internal report based on two investigators' interview with Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017.

The February 2017 document, called a "302" in FBI parlance, shows how the agents went into the meeting armed with knowledge of conversations Flynn had during the transition period after the election with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including calls and text messages they exchanged in the U.S. and while Flynn and his wife were on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

The report shows Flynn repeatedly said "no" or didn't remember when they asked him specific questions about his contacts with Kislyak on the subject of a UN vote on Israeli settlements the Obama administration abstained from and sanctions the Obama White House imposed on Russia for interfering with the 2016 presidential election.

The reason the judge ordered the 302 placed on the public docket was that Flynn's legal team raised the question in their sentencing memo to the judge of whether FBI agents tried to lay a perjury trap on Flynn. The government, in response, said, "When the defendant said he did not remember something they knew he said, they used the exact words the defendant had used in order to prompt a truthful response."

Judge Emmet Sullivan said the report is "relevant to Mr. Flynn's sentencing," though he did not indicate how it will factor into his ruling on Flynn's sentence.

The sentencing hearing was expected to complete a remarkable fall for the decorated military veteran. A career military intelligence officer who served in the 82nd Airborne Division, he became an intelligence innovator after 9/11 by attacking complex terrorist networks in war zones. He was tapped to lead the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 but was pushed out by the Obama White House in 2014. In retirement, he set up a consulting firm called the Flynn Intel Group outside Washington.

Flynn was an early Trump supporter and became outspoken on the campaign trail. He led national security during the transition -- a period during which he spoke to Russia's ambassador before President Trump was sworn in -- and he briefly served as his national security adviser. He was fired by Trump after just 21 days in the position for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about whether he had discussed lifting sanctions against Russia with its ambassador during the transition.

When Flynn pleaded guilty a year ago, the President tweeted that Flynn had "lied to the Vice President and the FBI" but last week claimed in another tweet that Flynn got "a great deal" from Mueller.

Last week, Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner filed a lengthy sentencing memo which laid out his military accomplishments and awards, and also strongly suggested the FBI had been disingenuous in its treatment of Flynn, perhaps an attempt to restore some luster to the reputation of a man who had earned three sparkling stars on his uniform.

In the defense sentencing memo, Flynn's family, friends and former colleagues cast him as selfless in serving his country and saving lives, from his boyhood rescue of two toddlers in the path of a runaway car in Rhode Island to handing his own armored vest to another officer during a suicide vehicle bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Letters described how his efforts to help destroy al-Qaeda in Iraq -- which eventually became ISIS -- saved thousands of lives and revealed how Flynn personally directed the entire NATO-led force in a failed effort to prevent Army Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl's captors "from trafficking him across the Pakistan border."

"For those who bore witness to these actions, Flynn was the embodiment of selfless service and military values," wrote retired Army Col. Yvette Hopkins in the letter included in Flynn's sentencing memo.

Flynn later told British documentary filmmaker Sean Langan that Bergdahl, who was court-martialed and pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy last year, was worthy of mercy.

"So the guy deserted his men, his soldiers, his squad -- no doubt," Flynn said in 2016. "[But] I don't think he should serve another day in any sort of confinement or jail or anything like that, because frankly, even though he put himself into this situation to a degree, we -- the United States government and the United States military — put him in Afghanistan."

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who commanded special operations in Afghanistan and Africa, told ABC News that Flynn is also worthy of such mercy, having endured the crucible of a long investigation that "has had negative consequences on an inherently good man and family."

"Despite the political issues and the legal issues he is experiencing, Lt. Gen. Flynn in my assessment is a good man," Bolduc said. "He knows more than anyone about personal accountability. I am sure no one understands more the consequences of being untruthful during an investigation than Lt. Gen. Flynn. As we all do, I am sure he has reflected on any mistakes he made and is moving forward to make amends and learn."

Those closest to Flynn told ABC News that he is eager to be rid of that spotlight from political critics, news media and criminal investigators. In the last year, he has not granted any interviews, instead seeking the privacy of the the Rhode Island community he grew up in, passing his days surfing and spending time with his large family.

He has not been entirely absent from the political scene, however. He spoke at one fringe Republican's early campaign event earlier this year and made a rare speech to accept an award at a conservative political conference in September.

]]>Trump signs memo establishing US Space Command, a new combatant command but not a military servicehttp://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/3c92c5ebdc4c02fe85b57910ee85008c
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 12:01:00 -0600http://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/3c92c5ebdc4c02fe85b57910ee85008cMANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday establishing U.S. Space Command as the military's 11th unified combatant command.

While the new command is distinct from the "Space Force" military service that Trump has said he wants to create and the existing Air Force Space Command, it will change how the Department of Defense approaches war-fighting in space by centralizing its space operations from across the U.S. military into one place, to counter threats from China and Russia.

Like the military's other combatant commands, Space Command -- which was announced by the administration earlier this year -- will be led by a four-star general and draw on capabilities and personnel from the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy.

The memorandum directs Defense Secretary James Mattis to recommend officers for nomination and Senate confirmation to serve as the commander and deputy commander. Unlike the creation of a military service, the establishment of Space Command won't require Congressional legislation.

The White House released the memo while Vice President Mike Pence was at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida for the SpaceX launch of an Air Force GPS satellite. The launch was delayed until Wednesday because sensors in the rocket stopped the countdown.

Despite the launch's delay, Pence made remarks about the new command. He said that with its establishment “a new era of American national security in space begins today."

Pence also announced that Trump would sign a new "space policy directive" in the coming days to create the sixth branch of the armed forces, called Space Force, that the administration hopes to stand up before the end of 2020.

Trump first spoke about a future space force in March, but officially directed the Department of Defense to begin the process to establish the new military branch in June. Since then, Pentagon officials have been developing options for how a future Space Force could be structured.

One option is for the service to be housed under the Department of the Air Force, similar to the way in which the Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy, a U.S. official told ABC News. Currently, the Air Force manages a three-star Space Command, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado responsible for 30,000 personnel worldwide.

But it's unclear if Trump would approve such a plan.

In June, the president said, "We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force -- separate but equal."

Ultimately, the final decision will require legislation from a Congress which has been divided for years over how the military should or shouldn't restructure to counter threats from China and Russia in space.

The incoming Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, has already expressed his opposition to the creation of a separate service because of its cost.

The Air Force has estimated that a Space Force could cost as much as $13 billion over the first five years. But Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has said it could be less than $5 billion.

While the new command is distinct from the "Space Force" military service that Trump has said he wants to create and the existing Air Force Space Command, it will change how the Department of Defense approaches war-fighting in space by centralizing its space operations from across the U.S. military into one place, to counter threats from China and Russia.

Like the military's other combatant commands, Space Command -- which was announced by the administration earlier this year -- will be led by a four-star general and draw on capabilities and personnel from the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy.

The memorandum directs Defense Secretary James Mattis to recommend officers for nomination and Senate confirmation to serve as the commander and deputy commander. Unlike the creation of a military service, the establishment of Space Command won't require Congressional legislation.

The White House released the memo while Vice President Mike Pence was at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida for the SpaceX launch of an Air Force GPS satellite. The launch was delayed until Wednesday because sensors in the rocket stopped the countdown.

Despite the launch's delay, Pence made remarks about the new command. He said that with its establishment “a new era of American national security in space begins today."

Pence also announced that Trump would sign a new "space policy directive" in the coming days to create the sixth branch of the armed forces, called Space Force, that the administration hopes to stand up before the end of 2020.

Trump first spoke about a future space force in March, but officially directed the Department of Defense to begin the process to establish the new military branch in June. Since then, Pentagon officials have been developing options for how a future Space Force could be structured.

One option is for the service to be housed under the Department of the Air Force, similar to the way in which the Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy, a U.S. official told ABC News. Currently, the Air Force manages a three-star Space Command, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado responsible for 30,000 personnel worldwide.

But it's unclear if Trump would approve such a plan.

In June, the president said, "We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force -- separate but equal."

Ultimately, the final decision will require legislation from a Congress which has been divided for years over how the military should or shouldn't restructure to counter threats from China and Russia in space.

The incoming Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, has already expressed his opposition to the creation of a separate service because of its cost.

The Air Force has estimated that a Space Force could cost as much as $13 billion over the first five years. But Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has said it could be less than $5 billion.

NAACP Director of Communications Malik Russell told ABC News that the new information, disclosed in a pair of independent reports prepared for U.S. lawmakers, was “a factor” in the protest, but the group had long been concerned about the “use of Facebook by external and internal forces as a voter suppression tool, as well as continued privacy issues,” among other factors.

On Monday two independent research groups, one led by Oxford University and the other by the cybersecurity firm New Knowledge, published reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee that shed new light on the expansive scope of Russia’s purported propaganda campaign before and following the 2016 presidential election over a wide array of websites and social media platforms.

While the reports found that the campaign targeted groups at each end of the political spectrum in an effort to damage Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s electoral chances and more broadly to sow political and social discord in the U.S., each report highlighted the particular effort that the Russians appeared to have put into dividing and suppressing the African-American vote.

The New Knowledge report said the Russians “created an expansive cross-platform media mirage targeting the Black community, which shared and cross-promoted authentic Black media to create an immersive influence ecosystem.”

For example, New Knowledge identified a “Black Matters” campaign that it said the IRA ran like a “midsized media ‘brand,’” with its own dedicated Facebook pages, Twitter account, Instagram account, YouTube videos, Tumblr page, Google ads, Facebook ads and even an associated SoundCloud account. That “brand,” however, was just part of a larger online network where it was intertwined with other IRA content targeting African-Americans as well as legitimate African-American-focused pages and accounts.

The reports also identified Facebook-owned Instagram, another target for the NAACP’s “LogOut,” as a new battleground in the propaganda war, after Russian trolls purported shifted much of their focus there in 2017.

In a press release Monday, the NAACP called on Congress to conduct further investigation into the reports’ findings.

But the new Russia-related reports have only come after a number of grievances with Facebook that the NAACP identified on its website, including the Cambridge Analytica personal information breach and allegations that Facebook ads on real estate are not being served fairly. The NAACP announced it had returned a “monetary donation [it] had recently received from Facebook.”

On Monday, the Congressional Black Caucus called on President Donald Trump to work with U.S. federal agencies to stop foreign influence and said it would also “like to hear directly from [co-founder] Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, and CEOs of other companies whose platforms were weaponized, about what they knew, and concrete steps they will implement to address future attempts at disinformation campaigns.”

“We cannot allow the deceit and misinformation that characterized the 2016 elections to be repeated in the future,” the CBC statement said.

Representatives for Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report, but Tuesday Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg published a statement on a "civil rights audit" the company had undertaken beginning in May. Sandberg noted the voter suppression concerns raised by the new reports and said Facebook takes the issue “incredibly seriously.”

“In addition to working to prevent voter suppression, we’re also building on our efforts to encourage voter registration and engagement,” Sandberg wrote. “When people turn 18, and ahead of elections, we remind them to register to vote. We help them find their polling places and remind them to vote on Election Day. This year, we also added a feature that lets people ask their friends to join them in registering to vote.

“We know we need to do more… The civil rights audit is deeply important to me, and it’s one of my top priorities for 2019,” Sandberg wrote.

As far as the Russian propaganda effort more generally, in a statement provided to ABC News Monday prior to the publication of the Russia-related reports, Facebook said, “As we've said all along, Congress and the intelligence community are best placed to use the information we and others provide to determine the political motivations of actors like the Internet Research Agency. We continue to fully cooperate with officials investigating the IRA's activity on Facebook and Instagram around the 2016 election.”

The company said it has also “made progress in helping prevent interference on our platforms during elections, strengthened our policies against voter suppression ahead of the 2018 midterms, and funded independent research on the impact of social media on democracy.”

NAACP Director of Communications Malik Russell told ABC News that the new information, disclosed in a pair of independent reports prepared for U.S. lawmakers, was “a factor” in the protest, but the group had long been concerned about the “use of Facebook by external and internal forces as a voter suppression tool, as well as continued privacy issues,” among other factors.

On Monday two independent research groups, one led by Oxford University and the other by the cybersecurity firm New Knowledge, published reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee that shed new light on the expansive scope of Russia’s purported propaganda campaign before and following the 2016 presidential election over a wide array of websites and social media platforms.

While the reports found that the campaign targeted groups at each end of the political spectrum in an effort to damage Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s electoral chances and more broadly to sow political and social discord in the U.S., each report highlighted the particular effort that the Russians appeared to have put into dividing and suppressing the African-American vote.

The New Knowledge report said the Russians “created an expansive cross-platform media mirage targeting the Black community, which shared and cross-promoted authentic Black media to create an immersive influence ecosystem.”

For example, New Knowledge identified a “Black Matters” campaign that it said the IRA ran like a “midsized media ‘brand,’” with its own dedicated Facebook pages, Twitter account, Instagram account, YouTube videos, Tumblr page, Google ads, Facebook ads and even an associated SoundCloud account. That “brand,” however, was just part of a larger online network where it was intertwined with other IRA content targeting African-Americans as well as legitimate African-American-focused pages and accounts.

The reports also identified Facebook-owned Instagram, another target for the NAACP’s “LogOut,” as a new battleground in the propaganda war, after Russian trolls purported shifted much of their focus there in 2017.

In a press release Monday, the NAACP called on Congress to conduct further investigation into the reports’ findings.

But the new Russia-related reports have only come after a number of grievances with Facebook that the NAACP identified on its website, including the Cambridge Analytica personal information breach and allegations that Facebook ads on real estate are not being served fairly. The NAACP announced it had returned a “monetary donation [it] had recently received from Facebook.”

On Monday, the Congressional Black Caucus called on President Donald Trump to work with U.S. federal agencies to stop foreign influence and said it would also “like to hear directly from [co-founder] Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, and CEOs of other companies whose platforms were weaponized, about what they knew, and concrete steps they will implement to address future attempts at disinformation campaigns.”

“We cannot allow the deceit and misinformation that characterized the 2016 elections to be repeated in the future,” the CBC statement said.

Representatives for Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report, but Tuesday Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg published a statement on a "civil rights audit" the company had undertaken beginning in May. Sandberg noted the voter suppression concerns raised by the new reports and said Facebook takes the issue “incredibly seriously.”

“In addition to working to prevent voter suppression, we’re also building on our efforts to encourage voter registration and engagement,” Sandberg wrote. “When people turn 18, and ahead of elections, we remind them to register to vote. We help them find their polling places and remind them to vote on Election Day. This year, we also added a feature that lets people ask their friends to join them in registering to vote.

“We know we need to do more… The civil rights audit is deeply important to me, and it’s one of my top priorities for 2019,” Sandberg wrote.

As far as the Russian propaganda effort more generally, in a statement provided to ABC News Monday prior to the publication of the Russia-related reports, Facebook said, “As we've said all along, Congress and the intelligence community are best placed to use the information we and others provide to determine the political motivations of actors like the Internet Research Agency. We continue to fully cooperate with officials investigating the IRA's activity on Facebook and Instagram around the 2016 election.”

The company said it has also “made progress in helping prevent interference on our platforms during elections, strengthened our policies against voter suppression ahead of the 2018 midterms, and funded independent research on the impact of social media on democracy.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced her appointment Tuesday morning, just days after Sen. Jon Kyl confirmed that he was stepping down from the role.

In the press release announcing her appointment, Ducey said that McSally "is uniquely qualified to step up and fight for Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate."

McSally, a two-term congresswoman, gained national attention when she faced off against Democrat Rep. Kyrsten Sinema this fall as they both fought to take over the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake's decision not to run for re-election.

Sinema won the seat in a relatively close race, with Sinema winning 50 percent of the vote to McSally's 47.6 percent. McSally conceded six days after the election.

That election was already a historic one, with Sinema becoming the first female to represent Arizona in the Senate. Now, the state will be one of only a few to be represented by two women.

Six-term Republican Sen. John McCain passed away in late August, just days before the Republican primary in the race for Flake's seat, and he had an outsize impact on the race.

McSally spoke movingly during her primary night victory speech about how he served as a mentor to her, both because of their military backgrounds and their love of Arizona.

"I am forever grateful to have had the chance to know him to learn from him and even to work with him," she said in her Aug. 28 speech.

That said, she did not receive an endorsement from the McCain family in the midterm race, even though she and Cindy McCain spoke at the same Election Eve event -- alongside Ducey and Kyl.

In spite of the fact that McCain held his seat for decades, it lies within the power of the governor and not McCain's family to determine who will fill the spot until a special election can be held to formally fill it in 2020.

Cindy McCain posted a tweet supporting the decision and calling on McSally to remember her husband's legacy.

"My husband’s greatest legacy was placing service to AZ & USA ahead of his own self-interest. I respect @dougducey's decision to appoint @RepMcSally to fill the remainder of his term. Arizonans will be pulling for her, hoping that she will follow his example of selfless leadership," she wrote on Twitter.

My husband’s greatest legacy was placing service to AZ & USA ahead of his own self-interest. I respect @dougducey's decision to appoint @RepMcSally to fill the remainder of his term. Arizonans will be pulling for her, hoping that she will follow his example of selfless leadership

For her part, McSally said that she looks forward to working with her recent rival Sinema -- who she accused of treason during the campaign -- while they both serve as the state's representatives in the Senate for the next two years.

"I am humbled and grateful to have this opportunity to serve and be a voice for all Arizonans. I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Kyrsten Sinema and getting to work from day one," McSally said in Ducey's news release announcing her appointment.

Assuming McSally's appointment progresses, the special election for McCain's seat will be held in 2020, and then would be up for it's regularly scheduled re-election in 2022. Should McSally continue forward, and run for re-election, she will have campaigned three times in six years, losing once.

And since McCain won his sixth term in 2016 and Sinema's seat is up for re-election in 2024, Arizonans will have gone through five Senate elections in a decade.

]]>Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) -- Outgoing Rep. Martha McSally has been appointed to fill former Sen. John McCain's seat just over a month after losing the race for the state's other Senate seat.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced her appointment Tuesday morning, just days after Sen. Jon Kyl confirmed that he was stepping down from the role.

In the press release announcing her appointment, Ducey said that McSally "is uniquely qualified to step up and fight for Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate."

McSally, a two-term congresswoman, gained national attention when she faced off against Democrat Rep. Kyrsten Sinema this fall as they both fought to take over the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake's decision not to run for re-election.

Sinema won the seat in a relatively close race, with Sinema winning 50 percent of the vote to McSally's 47.6 percent. McSally conceded six days after the election.

That election was already a historic one, with Sinema becoming the first female to represent Arizona in the Senate. Now, the state will be one of only a few to be represented by two women.

Six-term Republican Sen. John McCain passed away in late August, just days before the Republican primary in the race for Flake's seat, and he had an outsize impact on the race.

McSally spoke movingly during her primary night victory speech about how he served as a mentor to her, both because of their military backgrounds and their love of Arizona.

"I am forever grateful to have had the chance to know him to learn from him and even to work with him," she said in her Aug. 28 speech.

That said, she did not receive an endorsement from the McCain family in the midterm race, even though she and Cindy McCain spoke at the same Election Eve event -- alongside Ducey and Kyl.

In spite of the fact that McCain held his seat for decades, it lies within the power of the governor and not McCain's family to determine who will fill the spot until a special election can be held to formally fill it in 2020.

Cindy McCain posted a tweet supporting the decision and calling on McSally to remember her husband's legacy.

"My husband’s greatest legacy was placing service to AZ & USA ahead of his own self-interest. I respect @dougducey's decision to appoint @RepMcSally to fill the remainder of his term. Arizonans will be pulling for her, hoping that she will follow his example of selfless leadership," she wrote on Twitter.

My husband’s greatest legacy was placing service to AZ & USA ahead of his own self-interest. I respect @dougducey's decision to appoint @RepMcSally to fill the remainder of his term. Arizonans will be pulling for her, hoping that she will follow his example of selfless leadership

For her part, McSally said that she looks forward to working with her recent rival Sinema -- who she accused of treason during the campaign -- while they both serve as the state's representatives in the Senate for the next two years.

"I am humbled and grateful to have this opportunity to serve and be a voice for all Arizonans. I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Kyrsten Sinema and getting to work from day one," McSally said in Ducey's news release announcing her appointment.

Assuming McSally's appointment progresses, the special election for McCain's seat will be held in 2020, and then would be up for it's regularly scheduled re-election in 2022. Should McSally continue forward, and run for re-election, she will have campaigned three times in six years, losing once.

And since McCain won his sixth term in 2016 and Sinema's seat is up for re-election in 2024, Arizonans will have gone through five Senate elections in a decade.

]]>After Parkland shooting, Trump safety commission rejects calls for gun control, sticks with suggestions that schools arm themselveshttp://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/d6746f7771382cc8836e750ef6d24fe6
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 09:55:00 -0600http://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/d6746f7771382cc8836e750ef6d24fe6Bill Chizek/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump's federal commission on school safety concluded in a report released Tuesday that raising the age to buy firearms probably wouldn't stop the next school shooting because attackers often procure guns illegally. The group suggested instead that schools consider arming themselves and do more to address mental health issues among its students, including relying on support from local religious groups.

The 177-page assessment, led by the U.S. Education Department, was commissioned by Trump following the February killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. While the assessment contains nearly 100 recommendations, it does not address the key demands for gun control made by school shooting victims and students of the Parkland, Florida high school, whose activism sparked protests nationwide this spring and summer.

Speaking from the Roosevelt Room in the White House with victims of gun violence who supported his efforts, Trump said the media should refuse to name shooters in what he called a "no-notoriety" rule. He also called on "highly-trained" people at schools to have access to firearms.

"It's critical to have armed personnel available at a moment's notice," Trump said. "These are people -- teachers in many cases -- that are the highest trained that you can get. People that are natural to firearms ... This is critical to the hardening of our schools against attack."

One advocacy group promoting school safety, called "Stand with Parkland," said the assessment was "thoughtful" and urged the public to read it "with an open mind." The group objected, however, to the suggestion that teachers should arm themselves, saying that "security functions belong in the realm of dedicated school security personnel."

The commission also suggested rolling back an Obama-era initiative intended to combat racial disparities in school discipline. Guidance issued in 2014 advised districts they could be found in violation of federal civil rights law if minority students were disciplined at higher rates than white students.

“One of the things that the commission was concerned with is the recurring narrative that teachers in the classroom or students in the hallways and on campus were afraid,” said an administration official on background call with reporters, who called the recommendation one of the “first” issues addressed in the report. “Because individuals who had a history of anti-social, or in some instances aggressive -- trending toward violent behavior, were left unpunished or were left unchecked.”

One of Trump's key proposals after the Parkland school shooting was arming teachers -- but there was significant pushback from educators, parents and some lawmakers.

Instead, the report provides guidelines for schools who may wish to equip “highly trained school personnel” with firearms to protect students in the event of a shooting -- including teachers, custodians and extracurricular staff.

Officials were insistent that there is no recommendation involving using federal funds to “arm teachers.”

And while Trump had seemed receptive in the various panels following the Parkland massacre to the idea of raising the minimum age to buy firearms, the report largely recommends that states “consider offering training or other resources to promote safe storage of firearms.”

"Given what we know about how underage shooters most often procure weapons (i.e., taking them from home or stealing them), laws aimed at a minimum purchase age would not have affected most school shooters," the report states.

Additionally, according to the commission’s chairwoman, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the report endorses states adopting “extreme risk protection orders” designed to restrict access to guns for people “found to be a danger to themselves or others” -- but without any call for the U.S. Congress to take on the issue. And it calls on bolstering resources for mental health at schools.

"Improving access to school-based mental health and counseling for young people is an important aspect of prevention," according to the report. "So, too, is community involvement and support, including the faith community."

The 177-page assessment, led by the U.S. Education Department, was commissioned by Trump following the February killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. While the assessment contains nearly 100 recommendations, it does not address the key demands for gun control made by school shooting victims and students of the Parkland, Florida high school, whose activism sparked protests nationwide this spring and summer.

Speaking from the Roosevelt Room in the White House with victims of gun violence who supported his efforts, Trump said the media should refuse to name shooters in what he called a "no-notoriety" rule. He also called on "highly-trained" people at schools to have access to firearms.

"It's critical to have armed personnel available at a moment's notice," Trump said. "These are people -- teachers in many cases -- that are the highest trained that you can get. People that are natural to firearms ... This is critical to the hardening of our schools against attack."

One advocacy group promoting school safety, called "Stand with Parkland," said the assessment was "thoughtful" and urged the public to read it "with an open mind." The group objected, however, to the suggestion that teachers should arm themselves, saying that "security functions belong in the realm of dedicated school security personnel."

The commission also suggested rolling back an Obama-era initiative intended to combat racial disparities in school discipline. Guidance issued in 2014 advised districts they could be found in violation of federal civil rights law if minority students were disciplined at higher rates than white students.

“One of the things that the commission was concerned with is the recurring narrative that teachers in the classroom or students in the hallways and on campus were afraid,” said an administration official on background call with reporters, who called the recommendation one of the “first” issues addressed in the report. “Because individuals who had a history of anti-social, or in some instances aggressive -- trending toward violent behavior, were left unpunished or were left unchecked.”

One of Trump's key proposals after the Parkland school shooting was arming teachers -- but there was significant pushback from educators, parents and some lawmakers.

Instead, the report provides guidelines for schools who may wish to equip “highly trained school personnel” with firearms to protect students in the event of a shooting -- including teachers, custodians and extracurricular staff.

Officials were insistent that there is no recommendation involving using federal funds to “arm teachers.”

And while Trump had seemed receptive in the various panels following the Parkland massacre to the idea of raising the minimum age to buy firearms, the report largely recommends that states “consider offering training or other resources to promote safe storage of firearms.”

"Given what we know about how underage shooters most often procure weapons (i.e., taking them from home or stealing them), laws aimed at a minimum purchase age would not have affected most school shooters," the report states.

Additionally, according to the commission’s chairwoman, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the report endorses states adopting “extreme risk protection orders” designed to restrict access to guns for people “found to be a danger to themselves or others” -- but without any call for the U.S. Congress to take on the issue. And it calls on bolstering resources for mental health at schools.

"Improving access to school-based mental health and counseling for young people is an important aspect of prevention," according to the report. "So, too, is community involvement and support, including the faith community."

"Good luck today in court to General Michael Flynn," Trump tweeted just hours before Flynn's scheduled court appearance. "Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign."

Good luck today in court to General Michael Flynn. Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign. There was no Collusion!

Flynn is the first former member of the Trump administration to be sentenced as a part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion by members of Trump's campaign.

While he could face nearly as much as six months in prison, Flynn is not expected to serve any time in part due to a sentencing memo filed by Mueller just last week that stated Flynn provided "substantial assistance" in his interviews with the special counsel since his guilty plea.

"Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range—including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration—is appropriate and warranted,” Mueller wrote.

Flynn served a total of 23 days as Trump's national security adviser before his sudden firing in February 2017, after he was found to have lied to Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about whether he had discussed lifting sanctions against Russia with its ambassador during the transition.

Trump has since repeatedly stated that he believes Flynn was unfairly targeted by Mueller's investigation and has even suggested he no longer believes Flynn actually lied to FBI agents despite his guilty plea, as he did in this tweet from Dec. 13.

They gave General Flynn a great deal because they were embarrassed by the way he was treated - the FBI said he didn’t lie and they overrode the FBI. They want to scare everybody into making up stories that are not true by catching them in the smallest of misstatements. Sad!......

Flynn is not expected to recant his admission to lying to the FBI, though in a sentencing memo last week, Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner accused the FBI of being manipulative and potentially deceitful in how its agents approached Flynn initially.

The special counsel's office responded to the allegations in court documents Friday, where it argued that Flynn's years of military service should essentially have taught him not to lie to federal investigators.

“Nothing about the way the interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI,” the special counsel's office said. “The defendant chose to make false statements about his communications with the Russian ambassador weeks before the FBI interview, when he lied about that topic to the media, the incoming Vice President, and other members of the Presidential Transition Team.”

]]>Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump tweeted a message of well wishes to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn ahead of his appearance in a federal court Tuesday where he will be sentenced for lying to federal investigators about his contacts with Russian officials.

"Good luck today in court to General Michael Flynn," Trump tweeted just hours before Flynn's scheduled court appearance. "Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign."

Good luck today in court to General Michael Flynn. Will be interesting to see what he has to say, despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign. There was no Collusion!

Flynn is the first former member of the Trump administration to be sentenced as a part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion by members of Trump's campaign.

While he could face nearly as much as six months in prison, Flynn is not expected to serve any time in part due to a sentencing memo filed by Mueller just last week that stated Flynn provided "substantial assistance" in his interviews with the special counsel since his guilty plea.

"Given the defendant’s substantial assistance and other considerations set forth, a sentence at the low end of the guideline range—including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration—is appropriate and warranted,” Mueller wrote.

Flynn served a total of 23 days as Trump's national security adviser before his sudden firing in February 2017, after he was found to have lied to Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about whether he had discussed lifting sanctions against Russia with its ambassador during the transition.

Trump has since repeatedly stated that he believes Flynn was unfairly targeted by Mueller's investigation and has even suggested he no longer believes Flynn actually lied to FBI agents despite his guilty plea, as he did in this tweet from Dec. 13.

They gave General Flynn a great deal because they were embarrassed by the way he was treated - the FBI said he didn’t lie and they overrode the FBI. They want to scare everybody into making up stories that are not true by catching them in the smallest of misstatements. Sad!......

Flynn is not expected to recant his admission to lying to the FBI, though in a sentencing memo last week, Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner accused the FBI of being manipulative and potentially deceitful in how its agents approached Flynn initially.

The special counsel's office responded to the allegations in court documents Friday, where it argued that Flynn's years of military service should essentially have taught him not to lie to federal investigators.

“Nothing about the way the interview was arranged or conducted caused the defendant to make false statements to the FBI,” the special counsel's office said. “The defendant chose to make false statements about his communications with the Russian ambassador weeks before the FBI interview, when he lied about that topic to the media, the incoming Vice President, and other members of the Presidential Transition Team.”

]]>Ryan Zinke's exit not expected to mean immediate change at Interior Department: Activistshttp://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/3a54bddd37fd4f41a6ba3caab976866f
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 06:05:00 -0600http://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/3a54bddd37fd4f41a6ba3caab976866fpabradyphoto/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- Conservation activists and Democrats have said they want to focus on political appointees at the Interior Department who are expected to continue carrying out President Donald Trump's agenda after Secretary Ryan Zinke leaves his post at the end of the year.

Over the weekend, Trump announced on Twitter Zinke would resign amid ethics investigations and promises for aggressive oversight from Democrats in January.

But Zinke's departure isn't expected to lead to a drastic shift in priorities for the department, which is charged with managing the nation's natural resources and cultural heritage.

Zinke generated headlines about ethics investigations and news that one of those investigations was referred to the Justice Department by Interior's inspector general. Zinke vehemently denied any wrongdoing, but said in a statement that he could not justify the cost of defending himself and his family, though he did not specify if he meant the ethics investigations or expected oversight from the Democratic House.

Conservation advocates say they were initially optimistic about Zinke because he previously defended public lands and pledged to follow in President Teddy Roosevelt's footsteps.

Roosevelt used his authority to establish 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks and 18 national monuments on more than 230 million acres of public land, according to an Interior blog. But advocates were ultimately disappointed by his support for Trump's "America First" agenda, which included expanding energy production on federal land and rolling back regulations, such as rules to protect endangered species and migratory birds.

Collin O'Mara, president of the National Wildlife Federation and former Delaware secretary of natural resources, said he worked with Zinke when he was in Congress and that he supported him for the job, but that Zinke ultimately chose Trump's call for energy dominance over conservation.

"Zinke's most lasting legacy will be the millions of acres of public lands degraded, the climate pollution increased, the outdoor recreational opportunities forsaken, the national monuments decimated and the wildlife species imperiled by an all-consuming energy-dominance agenda that irreparably violated President Theodore Roosevelt's 'great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us,'" O'Mara wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

Conservation groups point out that Zinke led the efforts to shrink two national monuments in Utah and expand mining and energy production on public lands in support of the president's agenda.

Zinke has also pushed for his agency to be more involved at the border, touting a dramatic increase in arrests on public lands earlier this year. The agency has also worked on a joint opioid task force to increase enforcement and training on Native American reservations and has emphasized a bipartisan effort to direct more money to resolve a backlog of maintenance projects at national parks.

The Interior Department did not respond to a request for an interview from ABC News on Monday.

Some groups have already turned a critical eye to Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt, who is expected to take the lead at Interior until a new secretary is confirmed. Democrats in Congress who pledged to investigate Zinke now say they plan to call Bernhardt and any nominee for Interior secretary to testify on whether industry groups are being given too much influence on policy decisions.

"Deputy Secretary Bernhardt's conflicts of interest are well known. His years of lobbying on behalf of clients who stand to profit from Interior policy decisions are cause for serious concern. We intend to continue conducting vigorous oversight of how Interior political appointees arrive at major policy decisions, who they consult, who they ignore, and who stands to benefit financially," Rep. Raul Grijalva, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement.

Activists said they will be watching closely whomever Trump nominates to replace Zinke. Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of the Defenders of Wildlife, said she expects a "massive uprising" if Bernhardt is nominated because of his connections to industry groups.

"There's not one of the names that we're hearing that has any bona fides to lead a department of this magnitude and of this importance," she said in an interview.

Bernhardt held several positions at Interior between 2001 and 2009 before being nominated by Trump last April. As deputy secretary he works as chief operating officer of the department, according to its website.

He previously worked as an energy lobbyist and critics have accused him of meeting with former clients since taking office despite recusing himself from projects that would be a conflict of interest.

Trump's nominee to take Zinke's place at Interior will be vetted by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin. Trump tweeted that he would announce his nominee to replace Zinke this week.

Over the weekend, Trump announced on Twitter Zinke would resign amid ethics investigations and promises for aggressive oversight from Democrats in January.

But Zinke's departure isn't expected to lead to a drastic shift in priorities for the department, which is charged with managing the nation's natural resources and cultural heritage.

Zinke generated headlines about ethics investigations and news that one of those investigations was referred to the Justice Department by Interior's inspector general. Zinke vehemently denied any wrongdoing, but said in a statement that he could not justify the cost of defending himself and his family, though he did not specify if he meant the ethics investigations or expected oversight from the Democratic House.

Conservation advocates say they were initially optimistic about Zinke because he previously defended public lands and pledged to follow in President Teddy Roosevelt's footsteps.

Roosevelt used his authority to establish 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, four national game preserves, five national parks and 18 national monuments on more than 230 million acres of public land, according to an Interior blog. But advocates were ultimately disappointed by his support for Trump's "America First" agenda, which included expanding energy production on federal land and rolling back regulations, such as rules to protect endangered species and migratory birds.

Collin O'Mara, president of the National Wildlife Federation and former Delaware secretary of natural resources, said he worked with Zinke when he was in Congress and that he supported him for the job, but that Zinke ultimately chose Trump's call for energy dominance over conservation.

"Zinke's most lasting legacy will be the millions of acres of public lands degraded, the climate pollution increased, the outdoor recreational opportunities forsaken, the national monuments decimated and the wildlife species imperiled by an all-consuming energy-dominance agenda that irreparably violated President Theodore Roosevelt's 'great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us,'" O'Mara wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

Conservation groups point out that Zinke led the efforts to shrink two national monuments in Utah and expand mining and energy production on public lands in support of the president's agenda.

Zinke has also pushed for his agency to be more involved at the border, touting a dramatic increase in arrests on public lands earlier this year. The agency has also worked on a joint opioid task force to increase enforcement and training on Native American reservations and has emphasized a bipartisan effort to direct more money to resolve a backlog of maintenance projects at national parks.

The Interior Department did not respond to a request for an interview from ABC News on Monday.

Some groups have already turned a critical eye to Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt, who is expected to take the lead at Interior until a new secretary is confirmed. Democrats in Congress who pledged to investigate Zinke now say they plan to call Bernhardt and any nominee for Interior secretary to testify on whether industry groups are being given too much influence on policy decisions.

"Deputy Secretary Bernhardt's conflicts of interest are well known. His years of lobbying on behalf of clients who stand to profit from Interior policy decisions are cause for serious concern. We intend to continue conducting vigorous oversight of how Interior political appointees arrive at major policy decisions, who they consult, who they ignore, and who stands to benefit financially," Rep. Raul Grijalva, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement.

Activists said they will be watching closely whomever Trump nominates to replace Zinke. Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of the Defenders of Wildlife, said she expects a "massive uprising" if Bernhardt is nominated because of his connections to industry groups.

"There's not one of the names that we're hearing that has any bona fides to lead a department of this magnitude and of this importance," she said in an interview.

Bernhardt held several positions at Interior between 2001 and 2009 before being nominated by Trump last April. As deputy secretary he works as chief operating officer of the department, according to its website.

He previously worked as an energy lobbyist and critics have accused him of meeting with former clients since taking office despite recusing himself from projects that would be a conflict of interest.

Trump's nominee to take Zinke's place at Interior will be vetted by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin. Trump tweeted that he would announce his nominee to replace Zinke this week.

Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and John Kennedy of Alabama, two of the most vocal critics of the legislation, have introduced amendments that they say would expand explicit exclusions for violent criminals from early release programs, among other changes.

“If advocates of First Step want to protect public safety, they will support all three amendments,” Cotton said in an Op-Ed in the National Review published Monday.

But backers of the legislation, known as the First Step Act, say the amendments are actually designed to effectively kill the bill, which they say already excludes violent offenders from early release, and would disincentive prisoners from participating in anti-recidivism programming by giving wardens ultimate veto power in determining a prisoner’s fate.

Holly Harris, a conservative strategist who has been pushing for the bill’s passage in her role as the executive director of Justice Action Network, says the Cotton amendments are “not based in reality.”

“This is a person who truly doesn’t understand the prison system. There has to be some incentive to participate in this programming,” Harris said. “This is not a good faith effort but an effort to destroy the bill.”

Criminal justice reform advocate Van Jones, who has been a close ally of the White House on this legislation, said he remains optimistic that ultimately the bill will pass but said the Cotton amendments would deal a blow to the efficacy of the legislation.

“Sen. Cotton is hoping that those amendments will stick and cause some Democrats to bolt from supporting the bill,” said Jones. “We will pass this bill, the question is whether some of his amendments will also make it in.”

A coalition of groups and individuals from across the political spectrum who back the bill penned a joint letter addressed to President Donald Trump expressing their strong opposition to the Cotton-Kennedy amendments.

“The amendments proposed by Senators Cotton and Kennedy will weaken what would otherwise be a significant step towards making our federal prisons more accountable and results oriented. Beyond substance, however, they are political ‘poison pills’,” the letter says.

“Right now we have a system of only sticks and people get bitter, we’re trying to get to a system where there are some carrots and people can have some hope,” Jones said.

Debate on the bill was expected to begin in the Senate Monday night with supporters confident they have the votes needed to advance the bill toward final passage, killing amendments like those from the two conservative GOP senators, according to a senior GOP aide to a bill cosponsor. The White House declined to comment on the attempted revisions to the legislation.

A final vote on the measure is expected mid-week.

The House must then approve the measure, but aides to members in both chambers have been working behind the scenes to ensure the bill's passage. The bill would then head to the president's desk where he has said he would sign it.

The bill's approval would be a notable achievement for Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has been the leading advocate for criminal justice reform within the administration and shepherded the White House's legislative effort.

The issue is a personal passion for Kushner, whose own father spent time behind bars for tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions over a decade ago.

Trump’s embrace of the legislation is a departure from his tough-on-crime rhetoric.

While the president has gone so far in the past as to call for the death penalty for drug dealers, the president has gotten on board with a bill that aims to loosen sentencing guidelines for some nonviolent drug offenses.

“We’re all better off when former inmates can receive and reenter society as law-abiding, productive citizens. And thanks to our booming economy, they now have a chance at more opportunities than they’ve ever had before,” Trump said in November, announcing his support for the Senate bill.

In addition to giving judges greater latitude in sentencing for some nonviolent offenses, the First Step Act also seeks to beef up anti-recidivism programming for the nation’s prison population. According to Justice Department figures, approximately three out of every four Americans released from prison ends up back behind bars within five years.

]]>drnadig/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- With the Senate set to vote this week on White House-backed legislation that seeks to reform the nation’s prison system and sentencing guidelines, supporters are crying foul over a set of amendments they say would effectively gut the bill.

Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and John Kennedy of Alabama, two of the most vocal critics of the legislation, have introduced amendments that they say would expand explicit exclusions for violent criminals from early release programs, among other changes.

“If advocates of First Step want to protect public safety, they will support all three amendments,” Cotton said in an Op-Ed in the National Review published Monday.

But backers of the legislation, known as the First Step Act, say the amendments are actually designed to effectively kill the bill, which they say already excludes violent offenders from early release, and would disincentive prisoners from participating in anti-recidivism programming by giving wardens ultimate veto power in determining a prisoner’s fate.

Holly Harris, a conservative strategist who has been pushing for the bill’s passage in her role as the executive director of Justice Action Network, says the Cotton amendments are “not based in reality.”

“This is a person who truly doesn’t understand the prison system. There has to be some incentive to participate in this programming,” Harris said. “This is not a good faith effort but an effort to destroy the bill.”

Criminal justice reform advocate Van Jones, who has been a close ally of the White House on this legislation, said he remains optimistic that ultimately the bill will pass but said the Cotton amendments would deal a blow to the efficacy of the legislation.

“Sen. Cotton is hoping that those amendments will stick and cause some Democrats to bolt from supporting the bill,” said Jones. “We will pass this bill, the question is whether some of his amendments will also make it in.”

A coalition of groups and individuals from across the political spectrum who back the bill penned a joint letter addressed to President Donald Trump expressing their strong opposition to the Cotton-Kennedy amendments.

“The amendments proposed by Senators Cotton and Kennedy will weaken what would otherwise be a significant step towards making our federal prisons more accountable and results oriented. Beyond substance, however, they are political ‘poison pills’,” the letter says.

“Right now we have a system of only sticks and people get bitter, we’re trying to get to a system where there are some carrots and people can have some hope,” Jones said.

Debate on the bill was expected to begin in the Senate Monday night with supporters confident they have the votes needed to advance the bill toward final passage, killing amendments like those from the two conservative GOP senators, according to a senior GOP aide to a bill cosponsor. The White House declined to comment on the attempted revisions to the legislation.

A final vote on the measure is expected mid-week.

The House must then approve the measure, but aides to members in both chambers have been working behind the scenes to ensure the bill's passage. The bill would then head to the president's desk where he has said he would sign it.

The bill's approval would be a notable achievement for Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has been the leading advocate for criminal justice reform within the administration and shepherded the White House's legislative effort.

The issue is a personal passion for Kushner, whose own father spent time behind bars for tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions over a decade ago.

Trump’s embrace of the legislation is a departure from his tough-on-crime rhetoric.

While the president has gone so far in the past as to call for the death penalty for drug dealers, the president has gotten on board with a bill that aims to loosen sentencing guidelines for some nonviolent drug offenses.

“We’re all better off when former inmates can receive and reenter society as law-abiding, productive citizens. And thanks to our booming economy, they now have a chance at more opportunities than they’ve ever had before,” Trump said in November, announcing his support for the Senate bill.

In addition to giving judges greater latitude in sentencing for some nonviolent offenses, the First Step Act also seeks to beef up anti-recidivism programming for the nation’s prison population. According to Justice Department figures, approximately three out of every four Americans released from prison ends up back behind bars within five years.

]]>Michael Flynn to be sentenced for lying to FBIhttp://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/1a63a47ad45949eabda25d6e78c9a123
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 02:11:00 -0600http://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/1a63a47ad45949eabda25d6e78c9a123Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn once led Donald Trump supporters in chants of "Lock her up!" about Hillary Clinton, but on Tuesday he is expected to learn whether he will be the one spending time behind bars instead.

More than a year after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is set to deliver Flynn's sentence.

Though Flynn faces up to six months in prison, he's not likely to serve any time in prison.

In a sentencing memo filed last week, Mueller told the judge that Flynn had provided investigators with "substantial assistance" in more than a dozen interviews, and that because he flipped early, "a sentence at the low end of the guideline range -- including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration -- is appropriate and warranted."

But last-minute intrigue was thrown into what was anticipated to be a cut-and-dry sentencing process Monday evening when the government filed the FBI's formerly secret internal report based on two investigators' interview with Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017.

The February 2017 document, called a "302" in FBI parlance, shows how the agents went into the meeting armed with knowledge of conversations Flynn had during the transition period after the election with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including calls and text messages they exchanged in the U.S. and while Flynn and his wife were on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

The report shows Flynn repeatedly said "no" or didn't remember when they asked him specific questions about his contacts with Kislyak on the subject of a United Nations vote on Israeli settlements the Obama administration abstained from and sanctions the Obama White House imposed on Russia for interfering with the 2016 presidential election.

The reason the judge ordered the 302 placed on the public docket was that Flynn's legal team raised the question in their sentencing memo to the judge of whether FBI agents tried to lay a perjury trap on Flynn. The government, in response, said, "When the defendant said he did not remember something they knew he said, they used the exact words the defendant had used in order to prompt a truthful response."

Judge Emmet Sullivan said the report is "relevant to Mr. Flynn's sentencing," though he did not indicate how it will factor into his ruling on Flynn's sentence.

The sentence hearing will complete a remarkable fall for the decorated military veteran. A career military intelligence officer who served in the 82nd Airborne Division, he became an intelligence innovator after 9/11 by attacking complex terrorist networks in war zones. He was tapped to lead the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 but was pushed out by the Obama White House in 2014. In retirement, he set up a consulting firm called the Flynn Intel Group outside Washington.

Flynn was an early Trump supporter and became outspoken on the campaign trail. He led national security during the transition -- a period during which he spoke to Russia's ambassador before President Trump was sworn in -- and he briefly served as his national security adviser. He was fired by Trump after just 21 days in the position for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about whether he had discussed lifting sanctions against Russia with its ambassador during the transition.

When Flynn pleaded guilty a year ago, the president tweeted that Flynn had "lied to the Vice President and the FBI" but last week claimed in another tweet that Flynn got "a great deal" from Mueller.

Last week, Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner filed a lengthy sentencing memo which laid out his military accomplishments and awards, and also strongly suggested the FBI had been disingenuous in its treatment of Flynn, perhaps an attempt to restore some luster to the reputation of a man who had earned three sparkling stars on his uniform.

In the defense sentencing memo, Flynn's family, friends and former colleagues cast him as selfless in serving his country and saving lives, from his boyhood rescue of two toddlers in the path of a runaway car in Rhode Island to handing his own armored vest to another officer during a suicide vehicle bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Letters described how his efforts to help destroy al-Qaeda in Iraq -- which eventually became ISIS -- saved thousands of lives and revealed how Flynn personally directed the entire NATO-led force in a failed effort to prevent Army Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl's captors "from trafficking him across the Pakistan border."

"For those who bore witness to these actions, Flynn was the embodiment of selfless service and military values," wrote retired Army Col. Yvette Hopkins in the letter included in Flynn's sentencing memo.

Flynn later told British documentary filmmaker Sean Langan that Bergdahl, who was court-martialed and pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy last year, was worthy of mercy.

"So the guy deserted his men, his soldiers, his squad -- no doubt," Flynn said in 2016. "[But] I don't think he should serve another day in any sort of confinement or jail or anything like that, because frankly, even though he put himself into this situation to a degree, we -- the United States government and the United States military -- put him in Afghanistan."

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who commanded special operations in Afghanistan and Africa, told ABC News that Flynn is also worthy of such mercy, having endured the crucible of a long investigation that "has had negative consequences on an inherently good man and family."

"Despite the political issues and the legal issues he is experiencing, Lt. Gen. Flynn in my assessment is a good man," Bolduc said. "He knows more than anyone about personal accountability. I am sure no one understands more the consequences of being untruthful during an investigation than Lt. Gen. Flynn. As we all do, I am sure he has reflected on any mistakes he made and is moving forward to make amends and learn."

Those closest to Flynn told ABC News that he is eager to be rid of that spotlight from political critics, news media and criminal investigators.

In the last year, he has not granted any interviews, instead seeking the privacy of the the Rhode Island community he grew up in, passing his days surfing and spending time with his large family.

He has not been entirely absent from the political scene, however. He spoke at one fringe Republican's early campaign event earlier this year and made a rare speech to accept an award at a conservative political conference in September.

]]>Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn once led Donald Trump supporters in chants of "Lock her up!" about Hillary Clinton, but on Tuesday he is expected to learn whether he will be the one spending time behind bars instead.

More than a year after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States and agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is set to deliver Flynn's sentence.

Though Flynn faces up to six months in prison, he's not likely to serve any time in prison.

In a sentencing memo filed last week, Mueller told the judge that Flynn had provided investigators with "substantial assistance" in more than a dozen interviews, and that because he flipped early, "a sentence at the low end of the guideline range -- including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration -- is appropriate and warranted."

But last-minute intrigue was thrown into what was anticipated to be a cut-and-dry sentencing process Monday evening when the government filed the FBI's formerly secret internal report based on two investigators' interview with Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017.

The February 2017 document, called a "302" in FBI parlance, shows how the agents went into the meeting armed with knowledge of conversations Flynn had during the transition period after the election with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, including calls and text messages they exchanged in the U.S. and while Flynn and his wife were on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

The report shows Flynn repeatedly said "no" or didn't remember when they asked him specific questions about his contacts with Kislyak on the subject of a United Nations vote on Israeli settlements the Obama administration abstained from and sanctions the Obama White House imposed on Russia for interfering with the 2016 presidential election.

The reason the judge ordered the 302 placed on the public docket was that Flynn's legal team raised the question in their sentencing memo to the judge of whether FBI agents tried to lay a perjury trap on Flynn. The government, in response, said, "When the defendant said he did not remember something they knew he said, they used the exact words the defendant had used in order to prompt a truthful response."

Judge Emmet Sullivan said the report is "relevant to Mr. Flynn's sentencing," though he did not indicate how it will factor into his ruling on Flynn's sentence.

The sentence hearing will complete a remarkable fall for the decorated military veteran. A career military intelligence officer who served in the 82nd Airborne Division, he became an intelligence innovator after 9/11 by attacking complex terrorist networks in war zones. He was tapped to lead the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 but was pushed out by the Obama White House in 2014. In retirement, he set up a consulting firm called the Flynn Intel Group outside Washington.

Flynn was an early Trump supporter and became outspoken on the campaign trail. He led national security during the transition -- a period during which he spoke to Russia's ambassador before President Trump was sworn in -- and he briefly served as his national security adviser. He was fired by Trump after just 21 days in the position for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about whether he had discussed lifting sanctions against Russia with its ambassador during the transition.

When Flynn pleaded guilty a year ago, the president tweeted that Flynn had "lied to the Vice President and the FBI" but last week claimed in another tweet that Flynn got "a great deal" from Mueller.

Last week, Flynn's attorney Robert Kelner filed a lengthy sentencing memo which laid out his military accomplishments and awards, and also strongly suggested the FBI had been disingenuous in its treatment of Flynn, perhaps an attempt to restore some luster to the reputation of a man who had earned three sparkling stars on his uniform.

In the defense sentencing memo, Flynn's family, friends and former colleagues cast him as selfless in serving his country and saving lives, from his boyhood rescue of two toddlers in the path of a runaway car in Rhode Island to handing his own armored vest to another officer during a suicide vehicle bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Letters described how his efforts to help destroy al-Qaeda in Iraq -- which eventually became ISIS -- saved thousands of lives and revealed how Flynn personally directed the entire NATO-led force in a failed effort to prevent Army Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl's captors "from trafficking him across the Pakistan border."

"For those who bore witness to these actions, Flynn was the embodiment of selfless service and military values," wrote retired Army Col. Yvette Hopkins in the letter included in Flynn's sentencing memo.

Flynn later told British documentary filmmaker Sean Langan that Bergdahl, who was court-martialed and pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy last year, was worthy of mercy.

"So the guy deserted his men, his soldiers, his squad -- no doubt," Flynn said in 2016. "[But] I don't think he should serve another day in any sort of confinement or jail or anything like that, because frankly, even though he put himself into this situation to a degree, we -- the United States government and the United States military -- put him in Afghanistan."

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who commanded special operations in Afghanistan and Africa, told ABC News that Flynn is also worthy of such mercy, having endured the crucible of a long investigation that "has had negative consequences on an inherently good man and family."

"Despite the political issues and the legal issues he is experiencing, Lt. Gen. Flynn in my assessment is a good man," Bolduc said. "He knows more than anyone about personal accountability. I am sure no one understands more the consequences of being untruthful during an investigation than Lt. Gen. Flynn. As we all do, I am sure he has reflected on any mistakes he made and is moving forward to make amends and learn."

Those closest to Flynn told ABC News that he is eager to be rid of that spotlight from political critics, news media and criminal investigators.

In the last year, he has not granted any interviews, instead seeking the privacy of the the Rhode Island community he grew up in, passing his days surfing and spending time with his large family.

He has not been entirely absent from the political scene, however. He spoke at one fringe Republican's early campaign event earlier this year and made a rare speech to accept an award at a conservative political conference in September.

]]>Two ex-business associates of Michael Flynn charged in plot centered on Turkish clerichttp://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/dc04986cc011a66224a596b97111c342
Mon, 17 Dec 2018 21:00:00 -0600http://mediaonegroupradio.com/news-and-closings/politics-headlines/dc04986cc011a66224a596b97111c342Mario Tama/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Two former business associates of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, have been indicted for conspiring to influence both U.S. politicians and public opinion concerning a political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016.

Prosecutors charged Bijan Rafiekian, also known as Bijan Kian, and Kamil Ekim Alptekin with acting as unregistered agents of the Turkish government in a plot centered around Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys allege the two business associates “sought to discredit and delegitimize the Turkish citizen in the eyes of politicians and the public, and ultimately to secure the Turkish citizen’s extradition.”

Alptekin is also charged with several counts of lying to federal investigators about his roles in the operation.

Gulen has been blamed by the Turkish government for orchestrating a failed military coup against Erdrogan’s government.

According to the indictment, Flynn, Kian and Alptekin's secret lobbying effort against Gulen, initially dubbed the 90-day "Truth Campaign" and later named "Project Confidence," began in late July 2016, after the U.S. Justice Department rejected the Turkish government's request to extradite Gulen from the United States earlier that year.

The indictment details how Kian and Alptekin plotted a 90-day anti-Gulen campaign – and disguised the fact that the real source of funding for the operation was the Turkish government.

The whole time, Kian and Alptekin were in contact with high-level Turkish officials, receiving a "green light" from unnamed Turkish ministers on the procedure of the operation and arranging a meeting with the ministers in New York City in September of 2016, according to the indictment.

In November of 2016, The Hill published an op-ed written by Flynn comparing Gulen to Osama bin Laden and urging the U.S. to “adjust our foreign policy to recognize Turkey as a priority.”

“The forces of radical Islam derive their ideology from radical clerics like Gülen, who is running a scam,” Flynn wrote. “We should not provide him safe haven. In this crisis, it is imperative that we remember who our real friends are.”

Though not mentioned in the indictment, ABC News has also previously reported that Flynn was also accused of raising the idea of kidnapping Gulen to be turned over to the Turkish government. Flynn's lawyer has denied any such discussion.

Kian's attorney Robert Trout declined to comment on the matter.

During an interview with ABC News in May 2017 Alptekin had denied ever working for the Turkish government.

"I've never represented the government of Turkey,” he said. “All of the reports that implicated or imply that I was in any way representing the government are simply not true."

Bijan Kian faces up to 15 years of imprisonment, and Kamil Ekim Alptekin faces up to 30 years of imprisonment.

Although Flynn, identified as "Person A," is described in the court filing as heavily involved in the lobbying operation, he is not a defendant in the new indictment.

The revelation of the indictment, which was unsealed on Monday, comes on the eve of the retired three-star general Flynn’s sentencing hearing. Last December, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

According to a sentencing memo submitted by Mueller's team earlier this month, Flynn has provided "substantial assistance" in several unspecified investigations, one of which is believed to be the Turkish lobbying effort involving Kian and Alptekin. Special counsel's prosecutors have asked the judge for no prison time for Flynn, citing his assistance.

]]>Mario Tama/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Two former business associates of Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, have been indicted for conspiring to influence both U.S. politicians and public opinion concerning a political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016.

Prosecutors charged Bijan Rafiekian, also known as Bijan Kian, and Kamil Ekim Alptekin with acting as unregistered agents of the Turkish government in a plot centered around Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys allege the two business associates “sought to discredit and delegitimize the Turkish citizen in the eyes of politicians and the public, and ultimately to secure the Turkish citizen’s extradition.”

Alptekin is also charged with several counts of lying to federal investigators about his roles in the operation.

Gulen has been blamed by the Turkish government for orchestrating a failed military coup against Erdrogan’s government.

According to the indictment, Flynn, Kian and Alptekin's secret lobbying effort against Gulen, initially dubbed the 90-day "Truth Campaign" and later named "Project Confidence," began in late July 2016, after the U.S. Justice Department rejected the Turkish government's request to extradite Gulen from the United States earlier that year.

The indictment details how Kian and Alptekin plotted a 90-day anti-Gulen campaign – and disguised the fact that the real source of funding for the operation was the Turkish government.

The whole time, Kian and Alptekin were in contact with high-level Turkish officials, receiving a "green light" from unnamed Turkish ministers on the procedure of the operation and arranging a meeting with the ministers in New York City in September of 2016, according to the indictment.

In November of 2016, The Hill published an op-ed written by Flynn comparing Gulen to Osama bin Laden and urging the U.S. to “adjust our foreign policy to recognize Turkey as a priority.”

“The forces of radical Islam derive their ideology from radical clerics like Gülen, who is running a scam,” Flynn wrote. “We should not provide him safe haven. In this crisis, it is imperative that we remember who our real friends are.”

Though not mentioned in the indictment, ABC News has also previously reported that Flynn was also accused of raising the idea of kidnapping Gulen to be turned over to the Turkish government. Flynn's lawyer has denied any such discussion.

Kian's attorney Robert Trout declined to comment on the matter.

During an interview with ABC News in May 2017 Alptekin had denied ever working for the Turkish government.

"I've never represented the government of Turkey,” he said. “All of the reports that implicated or imply that I was in any way representing the government are simply not true."

Bijan Kian faces up to 15 years of imprisonment, and Kamil Ekim Alptekin faces up to 30 years of imprisonment.

Although Flynn, identified as "Person A," is described in the court filing as heavily involved in the lobbying operation, he is not a defendant in the new indictment.

The revelation of the indictment, which was unsealed on Monday, comes on the eve of the retired three-star general Flynn’s sentencing hearing. Last December, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

According to a sentencing memo submitted by Mueller's team earlier this month, Flynn has provided "substantial assistance" in several unspecified investigations, one of which is believed to be the Turkish lobbying effort involving Kian and Alptekin. Special counsel's prosecutors have asked the judge for no prison time for Flynn, citing his assistance.

That's a famous line from Robert DeNiro's organized crime boss character in the movie "Goodfellas."

But does that "mobster rule" apply in politics? President Donald Trump seems to think so.

Over the weekend, the president attacked his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in a tweet, calling him a "Rat." Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to campaign finance and other violations, claimed that Trump "directed" him to make hush money payments to two women out of concern about how the allegations of the affairs would affect the 2016 election if they became public.

Trump has denied the affair allegations.

A rat, commonly known as an FBI informant, often refers someone from an organized crime family who has gotten arrested and cooperated with the federal government to provide information about a larger crime or crime family aka an informant, according to Merriam-Webster.

When asked by ABC News if Cohen being branded as a "rat" would be dangerous, Michael J. Stern, a former federal prosecutor said it could be.

"Trump is not disclosing anything the prison population will not already know, given Cohen's very public disclosure of his cooperation. In general, cooperators are often subject to retribution, by the people they cooperate against and by prisoners who don't like the idea of people cooperating with the government. One nuance, in this case, is that there will be prisoners who support Trump and his branding Cohen a "rat" may be perceived as a call for them to punish Cohen," he said.

And of course, there may be prisoners who don’t support the president who might view the term as a compliment.

Trump has denied the affair allegations.

A rat, commonly known as an FBI informant, often refers someone from an organized crime family who has gotten arrested and cooperated with the federal government to provide information about a larger crime or crime family aka an informant, according to Merriam-Webster.

When asked by ABC News if Cohen being branded as a "rat" would be dangerous, Michael J. Stern, a former federal prosecutor said it could be.

"Trump is not disclosing anything the prison population will not already know, given Cohen's very public disclosure of his cooperation. In general, cooperators are often subject to retribution, by the people they cooperate against and by prisoners who don't like the idea of people cooperating with the government. One nuance, in this case, is that there will be prisoners who support Trump and his branding Cohen a "rat" may be perceived as a call for them to punish Cohen," he said.

And of course, there may be prisoners who don’t support the president who might view the term as a compliment.

People close to Michael Cohen say the term “rat” is not accurate and they believe it is outrageous that the nation’s chief executive would use such a term and inject himself into the case in this manner.

ABC News reached out to the White House for comment but got no immediate response.

Former FBI director James Comey, on Capitol Hill Monday to face questioning from House Republicans over how he handled the Clinton email and Russia investigations before Trump fired him in May 2017, echoed his previous criticism voiced in an interview with ABC Chief Anchor George Stephanopolous.

"It undermines the rule of law, " Comey told reporters. "This is the President of the United States calling a witness who has cooperated with his own Justice Department a rat. Say that again to yourself at home and remind yourself where we have ended up."

In the ABC News interview this spring, Comey said he was alarmed that Trump sounded like a mob boss.

"I'm not trying to … suggest that President Trump is out breaking legs and shaking down shopkeepers. But instead, what I'm talking about is that leadership culture constantly comes back to me when I think about my experience with the Trump administration,” Comey said.

Jerry Tillinghast, a former mob enforcer in Providence, Rhode Island, and author of the book "Choices: You Make 'em You Own 'em: The Jerry Tillinghast Story," said a rat can take different forms such as a rat on the street and a rat in prison.

The most common type, according to Tillinghast, is someone who committed a crime with you and then turns around and tells the cops about it. He adds that, in prison, a "rat" is the worst name you can give someone.

They are also detested by members of organized crime.

Trump's use of the word 'rat' is not the first time he's referenced a popular mob term. He's previously talked about Cohen "flipping," a common practice in which prosecutors offer criminal defendants reduced punishment if they testify against another criminal.

"It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal," Trump said in an interview with Fox News in August.

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, slammed the president for his attacks, likening his language to that of a mob boss.

“The idea that the FBI broke into his attorney's office runs right up against the foundation of our law, which is the FBI was executing a duly authorized warrant,” Coons said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day" Monday morning.

“They were executing a warrant issued with the approval of a judge. This is part of how investigations work. His use of the term ‘rat’ for Michael Cohen and mischaracterizing this as a break-in to his attorney's office frankly makes him sound more like a mob boss than President of the United States.”

Former Attorney-In-Charge of the Federal Organized Crime Strike Force in New York Edward McDonald, who has prosecuted organized crime members, said that a rat is "someone who turns on friends or criminal accomplices and provides criminal evidence against him."

In the majority of public corruption cases, anyone who is arrested could be a potential rat, McDonald also appeared in "Goodfellas", added.

Stern said that calling Cohen a rat undermines the presidents' own Justice Department's work.

"The president’s reference to cooperating witnesses as “rats,” undercuts the work of his own Justice Department that uses cooperators to prosecute some of the most dangerous criminals in the country. The president’s comments makes current federal prosecutors break out in a cold sweat, former federal prosecutors glad they left the Justice Department, and dead federal prosecutors roll over in their graves," Stern told ABC News.

Stern went on to say that President Trump acts like a mob boss.

"Mr. Trump is fond of referring to people who look like the classic character of the job they perform as coming from “central casting.” Referring to a cooperating witness as a “rat,” is central casting of a mob boss," Stern continued.

It could be likely that the President took the language from Matt Drudge who has been critical of Michael Cohen - and this is not the first time Trump has used the language. He referred to Bob Gates as a "rat" in a 2014 tweet.

The history of the word can be traced back to 1963 when Joseph Valachi testified in front of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations - and not only acknowledged La Cosa Nostra's existence but described the inner workings of the Mafia in detail. This was considered a big betrayal. These hearings in front of the Senate Subcommittee were known as the Valachi Hearings.

Other infamous federal informants, or "rats," include Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, who became a federal informant and helped take down John Gotti and Whitey Bulger. Bulger, who was recently killed in prison, was an FBI informant for years before his capture and trial.

That's a famous line from Robert DeNiro's organized crime boss character in the movie "Goodfellas."

But does that "mobster rule" apply in politics? President Donald Trump seems to think so.

Over the weekend, the president attacked his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in a tweet, calling him a "Rat." Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to campaign finance and other violations, claimed that Trump "directed" him to make hush money payments to two women out of concern about how the allegations of the affairs would affect the 2016 election if they became public.

Trump has denied the affair allegations.

A rat, commonly known as an FBI informant, often refers someone from an organized crime family who has gotten arrested and cooperated with the federal government to provide information about a larger crime or crime family aka an informant, according to Merriam-Webster.

When asked by ABC News if Cohen being branded as a "rat" would be dangerous, Michael J. Stern, a former federal prosecutor said it could be.

"Trump is not disclosing anything the prison population will not already know, given Cohen's very public disclosure of his cooperation. In general, cooperators are often subject to retribution, by the people they cooperate against and by prisoners who don't like the idea of people cooperating with the government. One nuance, in this case, is that there will be prisoners who support Trump and his branding Cohen a "rat" may be perceived as a call for them to punish Cohen," he said.

And of course, there may be prisoners who don’t support the president who might view the term as a compliment.

Trump has denied the affair allegations.

A rat, commonly known as an FBI informant, often refers someone from an organized crime family who has gotten arrested and cooperated with the federal government to provide information about a larger crime or crime family aka an informant, according to Merriam-Webster.

When asked by ABC News if Cohen being branded as a "rat" would be dangerous, Michael J. Stern, a former federal prosecutor said it could be.

"Trump is not disclosing anything the prison population will not already know, given Cohen's very public disclosure of his cooperation. In general, cooperators are often subject to retribution, by the people they cooperate against and by prisoners who don't like the idea of people cooperating with the government. One nuance, in this case, is that there will be prisoners who support Trump and his branding Cohen a "rat" may be perceived as a call for them to punish Cohen," he said.

And of course, there may be prisoners who don’t support the president who might view the term as a compliment.

People close to Michael Cohen say the term “rat” is not accurate and they believe it is outrageous that the nation’s chief executive would use such a term and inject himself into the case in this manner.

ABC News reached out to the White House for comment but got no immediate response.

Former FBI director James Comey, on Capitol Hill Monday to face questioning from House Republicans over how he handled the Clinton email and Russia investigations before Trump fired him in May 2017, echoed his previous criticism voiced in an interview with ABC Chief Anchor George Stephanopolous.

"It undermines the rule of law, " Comey told reporters. "This is the President of the United States calling a witness who has cooperated with his own Justice Department a rat. Say that again to yourself at home and remind yourself where we have ended up."

In the ABC News interview this spring, Comey said he was alarmed that Trump sounded like a mob boss.

"I'm not trying to … suggest that President Trump is out breaking legs and shaking down shopkeepers. But instead, what I'm talking about is that leadership culture constantly comes back to me when I think about my experience with the Trump administration,” Comey said.

Jerry Tillinghast, a former mob enforcer in Providence, Rhode Island, and author of the book "Choices: You Make 'em You Own 'em: The Jerry Tillinghast Story," said a rat can take different forms such as a rat on the street and a rat in prison.

The most common type, according to Tillinghast, is someone who committed a crime with you and then turns around and tells the cops about it. He adds that, in prison, a "rat" is the worst name you can give someone.

They are also detested by members of organized crime.

Trump's use of the word 'rat' is not the first time he's referenced a popular mob term. He's previously talked about Cohen "flipping," a common practice in which prosecutors offer criminal defendants reduced punishment if they testify against another criminal.

"It's called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal," Trump said in an interview with Fox News in August.

Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, slammed the president for his attacks, likening his language to that of a mob boss.

“The idea that the FBI broke into his attorney's office runs right up against the foundation of our law, which is the FBI was executing a duly authorized warrant,” Coons said in an interview on CNN’s “New Day" Monday morning.

“They were executing a warrant issued with the approval of a judge. This is part of how investigations work. His use of the term ‘rat’ for Michael Cohen and mischaracterizing this as a break-in to his attorney's office frankly makes him sound more like a mob boss than President of the United States.”

Former Attorney-In-Charge of the Federal Organized Crime Strike Force in New York Edward McDonald, who has prosecuted organized crime members, said that a rat is "someone who turns on friends or criminal accomplices and provides criminal evidence against him."

In the majority of public corruption cases, anyone who is arrested could be a potential rat, McDonald also appeared in "Goodfellas", added.

Stern said that calling Cohen a rat undermines the presidents' own Justice Department's work.

"The president’s reference to cooperating witnesses as “rats,” undercuts the work of his own Justice Department that uses cooperators to prosecute some of the most dangerous criminals in the country. The president’s comments makes current federal prosecutors break out in a cold sweat, former federal prosecutors glad they left the Justice Department, and dead federal prosecutors roll over in their graves," Stern told ABC News.

Stern went on to say that President Trump acts like a mob boss.

"Mr. Trump is fond of referring to people who look like the classic character of the job they perform as coming from “central casting.” Referring to a cooperating witness as a “rat,” is central casting of a mob boss," Stern continued.

It could be likely that the President took the language from Matt Drudge who has been critical of Michael Cohen - and this is not the first time Trump has used the language. He referred to Bob Gates as a "rat" in a 2014 tweet.

The history of the word can be traced back to 1963 when Joseph Valachi testified in front of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations - and not only acknowledged La Cosa Nostra's existence but described the inner workings of the Mafia in detail. This was considered a big betrayal. These hearings in front of the Senate Subcommittee were known as the Valachi Hearings.

Other infamous federal informants, or "rats," include Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, who became a federal informant and helped take down John Gotti and Whitey Bulger. Bulger, who was recently killed in prison, was an FBI informant for years before his capture and trial.